AMES  <s>.  DESHIEDDS 


BANCROFT    LIBRARY 


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CYNTHIA  ANN  PARKER. 


CYNTHIA  AM  PAEKEE. 


THE  STORY  OF  HER  CAPTURE 


At  the  Massacre  of  the  Inmates  of  Parker's  Fort;  of  her  Quarter  of  a  Century 

Spent  Among  the  Comanches,  as  the  Wife  of  the  War  Chief,  Peta  No- 

cona;  and  of  her  Recapture  at  the  Battle  of  Pease  River,  by 

Captain  L.    S.    Ross,   of   the   Texian  Rangers. 


—  BT  — 


JAMES  T.  DeSHIELDS, 


Author  of  "Frontier  Sketches,"  Etc. 


"Tr-utH  is  Stranger  tHan  Fiction.' 


ILLUSTRATED. 


ST.  LOUIS: 


for  the  Author, 

1886. 


Copyright  1886  by 

JAMES  T.  DRSHIELDS. 

All  Rights  Reserved. 


CHAS.  B.  WOODWARD 

Printing  and  Book  Manufacturing  Co., 

8T.  LOUIS. 


DEDICATED 


(By  Permission) 
—  TO  — 


GEN  L  L.  S.  ROSS, 


—  OF  — 


WACO,  TEXAS. 


V. 


PREFACE. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1884,  there  appeared  in  the 
columns  of  the  Forth  Worth  Gazette  an  advertisement 
signed  by  the  Comanche  chief,  Quanah  Parker,  and 
dated  from  the  reservation  near  Fort  Sill,  in  the  In 
dian  Territory,  enquiring  for  a  photograph  of  his  late 
mother,  Cynthia  Ann  Parker,  which  served  to  revive 
interest  in  a  tragedy  which  has  always  been  enveloped 
in  a  greater  degree  of  mournful  romance  and  pathos 
than  any  of  the  soul-stirring  episodes  of  our  pioneer 
life,  so  fruitful  of  incidents  of  an  adventurous  nature. 

From  the  valued  narratives  kindly  furnished  us  by 
Victor  M.  Ross,  Major  John  Henry  Browi>and  Gen. 
L.  S.  Ross,  supplemented  by  the  Jas.  W.  Parker  book 
and  copious  notes  from  Hon.  Ben.  F.  Parker,  together 
with  most  of  the  numerous  partial  accounts  of  the  fall 
of  Parker's  Fort  and  subsequent  relative  events,  pub 
lished  during  the  past  fifty  years ;  and  after  a  careful 
investigation  and  study  of  the  whole,  we  have  laborious 
ly  and  with  much  pains-taking,  sifted  out  and  evolved 
the  foregoing  narrative  of  plain,  unvarnished  facts, 
which  form  a  part  of  the  romantic  history  of  Texas. 

In  the  preparation  of  our  little  volume  the  thanks  of 
the  youthful  author  are  due  to  Gen.  L.  S.  Ross,  of 


VI. 


Waco;  Major  John  Henry  Brown  of  Dallas;  Gen. 
Walter  P.  Lane  of  Marshall;  Col.  John  S.  Ford  of 
San  Antonio;  Rev.  Homer  S.  Thrall — the  eminent 
historian  of  Texas  ;  Mr.  A.  F.  Corning  of  Waco  ;  Capt. 
Lee  Hall,  Indian  Agent,  I.  T.,  and  Mrs.  C.  A.  West- 
brook  of  Lorena,  for  valuable  assistance  rendered. 

To  Victor  M.  Ross  of  Laredo,  Texas,  the  author  has 
been  placed  under  many  and  lasting  obligations  for 
valuable  data  so  generously  placed  at  his  disposal,  and 
that  too  at  considerable  sacrifice  to  the  donor. 

From  this  source  we  have  obtained  much  of  the 
matter  for  our  narrative. 

In  submitting  our  little  work — the  first  efforts  of  the 
youthful  author — we  assure  the  reader  that  while  there 
are,  doubtless,  many  defects  and  imperfections,  he  is 
not  reading  fiction,  but  facts  which  form  only  a  part  of 
the  tragic  and  romantic  history  of  the  Lone  Star  State. 

JAMES  T.  DESHIELDS, 

BELTON,  Texas,  May  19,  1886. 


VII 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 
PREFACE 5 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  PARKER  FORT  MASSACRE,  ETC 9-21 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  CAPTIVES — CYNTHIA  ANN  AND  JOHN  PARKER 22-35 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  "ANTELOPE  HILLS," 36-46 

CHAPTER  IV. 

GENL.  L.  S.  Ross. — BATTLE  OF  THE  WICHITA..- 47-57 

CHAPTER  V. 

BATTLE  OF  PEASE  RIVER.— RECAPTURE  OF  CYNTHIA  ANN 

PARKER 58-68 

CHAPTER  VI. 

(  'VXTIIIA  ANN  PARKER. — QUANAII  PARKER 69-80 


CYNTHIA  ANN  PARKER. 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Parker  Port  Massacre,  Etc. 

CONTEMPORARY  with,  and  among  the  earliest  of  the 
daring  and  hardy  pioneers  that  penetrated  the  eastern 
portion  of  the  Mexican  province  of  Texas,  were  the 
" Parker  family,"  who  immigrated  from  Cole  county, 
Illinois,  in  the  fall  of  the  year  1833,  settling  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Navasota  creek,  near  the  site  of  the  present 
town  of  Groesbeck,  in  Limestone  county,  one  or  two 
of  the  family  coming  a  little  earlier  and  some  a  little 
later. 

The  elder  John  Parker  was  a  native  of  Virginia, 
resided  for  a  time  in  Elbert  county,  Georgia,  but  chiefly 
reared  his  family  in  Bedford  county,  Tennessee,  whence 
in  1818  he  removed  to  Illinois. 

The  family,  with  perhaps  one  or  two  exceptions, 
belonged  to  one  branch  of  the  primitive  Baptist  church, 
commonly  designated  as  "two  seed,"  or  "hard  shell" 
Baptists. 


10  CYNTHIA   ANN    PARKER. 

In  the  spring  of  1834  tne  colonist  erected  Parker's 
Fort, l)  a  kind  of  wooden  barricade,  or  wall  around 
their  cabins,  which  served  as  a  means  of  better  protect 
ing  themselves  against  the  numerous  predatory  bands 
of  Indians  into  that,  then,  sparsely  settled  section. 

As  early  as  1829  the  "Prairie  Indians"  had  declared 
war  against  the  settlers,  and  were  now  actively  hostile, 

1)  The  reader  will  understand  by  this  term,  not  only  a  place  of 
defense,  but  the  residence  of  a  small  number  of  families  belonging  to  the 
same  neighborhood.  As  the  Indian  mode  of  warfare  was  an  indiscrim 
inate  slaughter  of  all  ages,  and  both  sexes,  it  was  as  requisite  to  provide 
for  the  safety  of  the  women  and  children  as  for  that  of  the  men. 

Dodridge's  faithful  pen  picture  of  early  pioneer  forts,  will  perhaps 
give  the  reader  a  glimps  of  old  Fort  Parker  in  the  dark  and  bloody 
period  of  its  existence.  He  says : 

"The  fort  consisted  of  cabins,  blockhouses,  and  stockades.  A  range 
of  cabins  commonly  formed  on  one  side  at  least  of  the  fort.  Divisions, 
or  portions  of  logs,  separated  the  cabins  from  each  other.  The  walls 
on  the  outside  were  ten  or  twelve  feet  high,  the  slope  of  the  roof  being 
turned  wholly  inward.  A  very  few  of  these  cabins  had  puncheon  floors, 
the  greater  part  were  earthen.  The  blockhouses  were  built  at  the  angles 
of  the  fort.  They  projected  about  two  feet  beyond  the  outer  walls  of  the 
cabins  and  stockades.  Their  upper  stories  were  about  eighteen  inches 
every  way  larger  in  dimension  than  the  under  one,  leaving  an  opening  at 
the  commencement  of  the  second  to  prevent  the  enemy  from  making  a 
lodgment  under  their  walls.  In  some  forts,  instead  of  blockhouses  the 
angles  of  the  fort  were  furnished  with  bastions.  A  large  folding  gate, 
made  of  thick  slabs,  nearest  the  spring,  closed  the  fort.  The  stockades, 
bastions,  cabins,  and  blockhouse  walls,  were  furnished  with  port-holes  at 
proper  heights  and  distances.  The  whole  of  the  outside  was  completely 
bullet-proof. 

It  may  be  truly  said  that  "necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention";  for 
the  whole  of  this  work  was  made  without  the  aid  of  a  single  nail  or 
spike  of  iron;  and  for  this  reason  such  things  were  not  to  be  had.  In 
some  places,  less  exposed,  a  single  blockhouse,  with  a  cabin  or  two,  con 
stituted  the  whole  fort.  Such  places  of  refuge  may  appear  very  trifling 
to  those  who  have  been  in  the  habit  of  seeing  the  formidable  military 
garrisons  of  Europe  and  America,  but  they  answered  the  purpose,  as 
the  Indians  had  no  artillery.  They  seldom  attacked,  and  scarcely  ever 
took  one  of  them." 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  11 

constantly  committing  depredations  in  different  local 
ities. 

Parker's  colony  at  this  time  consisted  of  only  some 
eight  or  nine  families,  viz :  Elder  John  Parker,  patri 
arch  of  the  family,  and  his  wife ;  his  son  James  W. 
Parker,  wife,  four  single  children  and  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  Rachel  Plummer,  her  husband,  L.  M.  T.  Plum- 
mer,  and  infant  son,  fifteen  months  old ;  Mrs.  Sarah 
Nixon,  another  daughter,  and  her  husband  L.  D. 
Nixon  ;  Silas  M.  Parker  (another  son  of  Elder  John), 
his  wife  and  four  children  •  Benjamin  F.  Parker,  an 
unmarried  son  of  the  Elder  2)  ;  Mrs.  Nixon,  sr., 
mother  of  Mrs.  James  W.  Parker*  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Kellogg,  daughter  of  Mrs.  Nixon  ;  Mrs.  -  -  Duty ; 
Samuel  M.  Frost,  wife  and  two  children ;  G.  E. 
Dwight,  wife  and  two  children  •  in  all  thirty-four  per 
sons. 

Besides  those  above  mentioned,  old  man Lunn, 

David  Faulkenberry  and  his  son  Evan,  Silas  Bates, 
and  Abram  Anglin,  a  boy,  had  erected  cabins  a  mile 
or  two  distant  from  the  fort,  where  they  resided. 

2)  Elder  Daniel  Parker,  a  man  of  strong  mental  powers,  a  son  of 
Elder  John,  does  not  ligure  in  these  events.  He  signed  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  in  1836,  and  preached  to  his  people  till  his  death  in 
Anderson  county  in  1845.  Ex-Representative  Ben.  F.  Parker,  is  his  son 
and  successor  in  preaching  at  the  same  place.  Isaac  Parker,  above  men 
tioned,  another  son,  long  represented  Houston  and  Anderson  counties  in 
Senate  and  House,  and  in  1855  represented  Tarrant  county.  He  died  in 
Parker  county,  not  long  since,  not  far  from  88  years  of  age.  Isaac  D. 
Parker  of  Tarrant  is  his  son. 


12  CYNTHIA   ANN   PARKER. 

These  families  were  truly  the  advance  guard  of  civil 
ization  of  that  part  of  our  frontier.  Fort  Houston,  in 
Anderson  county,  being  the  nearest  protection,  except 
their  own  trusty  rifles. 

Here  the  struggling  colonist  remained,  engaged  in 
the  avocations  of  a  rural  life,  tilling  the  soil,  hunting 
buffalo,  bear,  deer,  turkeys  and  smaller  game,  which 
served  abundantly  to  supply  their  larder  at  all  times 
with  fresh  meat,  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  life  of  Arcadian 
simplicity,  virtue  and  contentment,  until  the  latter  part 
of  the  year  1835,  wnen  the  Indians  and  Mexicans 
forced  the  little  band  of  compatriots  to  abandon  their 
homes,  and  flee  with  many  others  before  the  invading 
army  from  Mexico. 

On  arriving  at  the  Trinity  river  they  were  compelled 
to  halt  in  consequence  of  an  overflow.  Before  they 
could  cross  the  swollen  stream  the  sudden  and  unex 
pected  news  reached  them  that  Santa  Anna  and  his 
vandal  hordes  had  been  confronted  and  defeated  at  San 
Jacinto,  that  sanguinary  engagement  which  gave  birth 
to  the  new  sovereignty  of  Texas,  and  that  TEXAS 
WAS  FREE  FROM  MEXICAN  TYRANNY. 

On  receipt  of  this  news  the  fleeing  settlers  were  over 
joyed,  and  at  once  returned  to  their  abandoned  homes. 

The  Parker  colony  now  retraced  their  steps,  first 
going  to  Fort  Houston,  where  they  remained  a  few 


STORY   OF    HER    CAPTURE.  13 

days  in  order  to  procure  supplies,  after  which  they 
made  their  way  back  to  Fort  Parker  to  look  after  their 
stock  and  to  prepare  for  a  crop. 

These  hardy  sons  o£  toil  spent  their  nights  in  the 
fort,  repairing  to  their  farms  early  each  morning. 

On  the  night  of  May  18,  1836,  all  slept  at  the  fort, 
James  W.  Parker,  Nixon  and  Plummer  repairing  to 
their  field  a  mile  distant  on  the  Navasota,  early  next 
morning,  little  thinking  of  the  great  calamity  that  was 
soon  to  befall  them. 

About  9  o'clock  a.  m.  the  fort  was  visited  by  several 
hundred3)  Comanche  and  Kiowa  Indians.  On  ap 
proaching  to  within  about  three  hundred  yards  of  the 
fort  the  Indians  halted  in  the  prairie,  presenting  a  white 
flag ;  at  the  same  time  making  signs  of  friendship. 

At  this  time  there  were  only  six  men  in  the  fort, 
three  having  gone  out  to  work  in  the  field  as  above 
stated.  Of  the  six  men  remaining,  only  five  were  able 
to  bear  arms,  viz :  Elder  John  Parker,  Benjamin  and 
Silas  Parker,  Samuel  and  Robert  Frost.  There  were 
ten  women  and  fifteen  children. 

The  Indians,  artfully  feigning  the  treacherous  semb 
lance  of  friendship,  pretented  that  they  were  looking  for 
a  suitable  camping  place,  and  enquired  as  to  the  exact 

3)  Different  accounts  have  variously  estimated  the  number  of  In 
dians  at  from  300  to  700.  One  account  says  300,  another  500,  and  still 
another  700.  There  were  perhaps  about  500  warriors. 


14  CYNTHIA    ANN   PARKER. 

locality  of  a  water-hole  in  the  vicinity,  at  the  same  time 
asking  for  a  beef  to  appease  their  hungry — a  want 
always  felt  by  an  Indian,  when  the  promise  of  fresh 
meat  loomed  up  in  the  distant  perspective ;  and  he 
would  make  such  pleas  with  all  the  servile  sicophancy 
of  a  slave,  like  the  Italian  who  embraces  his  victim  ere 
plunging  the  poniard  into  his  heart. 

Not  daring  to  resent  so  formidable  a  body  of  savages, 
or  refuse  to  comply  with  their  requests,  Mr.  Benjamin 
F.  Parker  went  out  to  them,  had  a  talk  and  returned, 
expressing  the  opinion  that  the  Indians  were  hostile 
and  intented  to  fight,  but  added  that  he  would  go  back 
and  try  to  avert  it.  His  brother  Silas  remonstrated, 
but  he  persisted  in  going,  and  was  immediately  sur 
rounded  and  killed,  whereupon  the  whole  force — their 
savage  instincts  aroused  by  the  sight  of  blood — charged 
upon  the  works,  uttering  the  most  terrific  and  unearth 
ly  yells  that  ever  greeted  the  ears  of  mortals.  Cries 
and  confusion  reigned.  The  sickening  and  bloody 
tragedy  was  soon  enacted.  Brave  Silas  M.  Parker  fell 
on  the  outside  of  the  fort,  while  he  was  gallantly  fight 
ing  to  save  Mrs.  Plummer.  Mrs.  Plummer  made  a 
most  manful  resistance,  but  was  soon  overpowered, 
knocked  down  with  a  hoe  and  made  captive.  Samuel 
M.  Frost  and  his  son  Robert  met  their  fate  while  hero 
ically  defending  the  women  and  children  inside  the 


STORY   OF    HER    CAPTURE.  15 

stockade.  Old  Granny  Parker  was  outraged,  stabbed 
and  left  for  dead.  Elder  John  Parker,  wife  and  Mrs. 
Kellogg  attempted  to  make  their  escape,  and  in  the 
effort  had  gone  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile,  when 
they  were  overtaken  and  driven  back  near  to  the  fort 
where  the  old  gentleman  was  stripped,  murdered, 
scalped  and  horribly  mutilated.  Mrs.  Parker  was 
stripped,  speared  and  left  for  dead,  but  by  feigning 
death  escaped,  as  will  be  seen  further  on.  Mrs. 
Kellogg  was  spared  as  a  captive. 

The  result  summed  up,  was  as  follows : 

Killed — Elder  John  Parker,  aged  seventy-nine  ;  Silas 
M.  and  Benjamin  F.  Parker;  Samuel  M.  and  his  son 
Robert  Frost. 

Wounded  dangerously — Mrs.  John  Parker;  Old 
Granny  Parker  and  Mrs. Duty. 

Captured — Mrs.  Rachel  Plummer,  (daughter  of 
James  W.  Parker),  and  her  son  James  Pratt  Plummer, 
two  years  of  age ;  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Kellogg ;  Cynthia 
Ann  Parker,  nine  years  old,  and  her  little  brother  John 
Parker,  aged  six  years,  children  of  Silas  M.  Parker. 
The  remainder  of  the  inmates  making  their  escape, 
as  we  shall  narrate. 

When  the  attack  on  the  fort  first  commenced,  Mrs. 
Sarah  Nixon  made  her  escape  and  hastened  to  the  field 
to  advise  her  father,  husband  and  Plummer.  On  her 


16  CYNTHIA    ANN   PARKER. 

arrival,  Plummer  hurried  on  horseback  to  inform  the 
Faulkenberrys,  Limn,  Bates  and  Anglin.  Parker  and 
Nixon  started  to  the  fort,  but  the  former  met  his  family 
on  the  way,  and  carried  them  some  five  miles  down 
the  Navasota,  secreting  them  in  the  bottom.  Nixon, 
though  unarmed,  continued  on  towards  the  fort,  and 
met  Mrs.  Lucy,  wife  of  the  dead  Silas  Parker,  with  her 
four  children,  just  as  they  were  intercepted  by  a  small 
party  of  mounted  and  foot  Indians.  They  compelled 
the  mother  to  lift  behind  two  mounted  warriors  her 
daughter  Cynthia  Ann,  and  her  little  son  John.  The 
foot  Indians  now  took  Mrs.  Parker,  her  two  youngest 
children  and  Nixon  back  to  the  fort. 

Just  as  the  Indians  were  about  to  kill  Nixon,  David 
Faulkenberry  appeared  with  his  rifle,  and  caused  them 
to  fall  back.  Nixon,  after  his  narrow  escape  from 
death,  seemed  very  much  excited,  and  immediately  left 
in  search  of  his  wife,  soon  falling  in  with  Dwight,  with 
his  own  and  Frost's  family.  Dwight  and  party  soon 
overtook  J.  W.  Parker  and  went  with  him  to  the  hid 
ing  place  in  the  bottom. 

Faulkenberry,  thus  left  with  Mrs.  Parker  and  her 
two  children,  bade  her  to  follow  him.  With  the  infant 
in  her  arms  and  leading  the  other  child  she  obeyed. 
Seeing  them  leave  the  fort,  the  Indians  made  several 
feints,  but  were  held  in  check  by  the  brave  man's 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.       .  17 

rifle.  Several  mounted  warriors,  armed  with  bows 
and  arrows  strung  and  drawn,  and  with  terrific  yells 
would  charge  them,  but  as  Faulkenberry  would  present 
his  gun  they  would  halt,  throw  up  their  shields,  right 
about,  wheel  and  retire  to  a  safe  distance.  This  con 
tinued  for  some  distance,  until  they  had  passed  through 
a  prairie  of  some  forty  or  fifty  acres.  Just  as  they 
were  entering  the  woods,  the  Indians  made  a  desperate 
charge,  when  one  warrior,  more  daring  than  the 
others,  dashed  up  so  near  that  Mrs.  Parker's  faithful 
dog  seized  his  horse  by  the  nose,  whereupon  both 
horse  and  rider  somersaulted,  alighting  on  their  backs 
in  a  ravine.  Just  at  this  moment  Silas  Bates,  Abram 
Anglin  and  Evan  Faulkenberry,  armed,  and  Plummer 
unarmed,  came  up,  causing  the  Indians  to  retire,  after 
which  the  party  made  their  way  unmolested. 

As  they  were  passing  through  the  field  where  the 
three  men  had  been  at  work  in  the  morning,  Plum 
mer,  as  if  aroused  from  a  dream,  demanded  to  know 
what  had  become  of  his  wife  and  child.  Armed  only 
with  a  butcher  knife,  he  left  the  party,  in  search  of  his 
loved  ones,  and  was  seen  no  more  for  six  days. 

The  Faulkenberry s,  Lunn,  with  Mrs.  Parker  and 
children,  secreted  themselves  in  a  small  creek  bottom, 
some  distance  from  the  first  party,  each  unconcious  of 
the  other's  whereabouts. 


18  CYNTHIA    ANN   PAKKER. 

At  twilight  Abraham  Anglin  and  Evan  Faulken- 
berry  started  back  to  the  fort  to  succor  the  wounded 
and  those  who  might  have  escaped.  On  their  way, 
and  just  as  they  were  passing  Faulkenberry's  cabin, 
Anglin  saw  his  first  and  only  ghost.  He  says,  "It 
was  dressed  in  white  with  long,  white  hair  streaming 
down  its  back.  I  admit  that  I  was  worse  scared  at 
this  moment  than  when  the  Indians  were  yelling  and 
charging  us.  Seeing  me  hesitate,  my  ghost  now 
beckoned  me  to  come  on.  Approaching  the  object  it 
proved  to  be  old  Granny  Parker,  whom  the  Indians 
had  wounded  and  stripped,  with  the  exception  of  her 
underwear.  She  had  made  her  way  to  the  house 
from  the  fort  by  crawling  the  entire  distance.  I  took 
some  bed  clothing,  and  carrying  her  some  distance 
from  the  house,  made  her  a  bed,  covered  her  up  and 
left  her  until  we  should  return  from  the  fort.  On  ar 
riving  at  the  fort  we  could  not  see  a  single  individual 
alive  or  hear  a  human  sound.  But  the  dogs  were 
barking,  the  cattle  lowing,  the  horses  neighing  and 
the  hogs  squealing,  making  a  hideous  and  strange 
meadly  of  sounds.  Mrs.  Parker  had  told  me  where 
she  had  left  some  silver,  $106.50.  This  I  found 
under  a  hickory  bush  by  moonlight.  Finding  no  one 
at  the  fort  we  returned  to  where  I  had  hid  Granny 
Parker.  On  taking  her  up  behind  me,  we  made  our 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  19 

way  back  to  our  hiding  place  in  the  bottom,  where  we 
found  Nixon,  whom  we  had  not  seen  since  his  coward 
ly  flight  at  the  time  he  was  rescued  by  Faulkenberry 
from  the  Indians."  4) 

On  the  next  morning,  Bates,  Anglin  and  E.  Faulk 
enberry  went  back  to  the  fort  to  get  provisions  and 
horses  and  to  look  after  the  dead.  On  reaching  the 
fort  they  found  five  or  six  horses,  a  few  saddles  and 
some  meal,  bacon  and  honey.  Fearing  an  attack 
from  the  red  devils  who  might  still  be  lurking  around, 
they  left  without  burying  the  dead.  Returning  to 
their  comrades  in  the  bottom,  they  all  concealed  them 
selves  until  the  next  night,  when  they  started  through 
the  woods  to  Fort  Houston,  which  place  they  reached 
without  material  suffering. 

Fort  Houston,  an  asylum  on  this  as  on  many  other 
occasions,  stood  on  what  has  been  for  many  years  the 
farm  of  a  wise  statesman,  a  chivalrous  soldier  and  a 
true  patriot — John  H.  Reagan — two  miles  west  of 
Palestine. 

After  wandering  around  and  traveling  for  six  days 
and  nights,  during  which  time  they  suffered  much 

(4— In  the  book  published  by  James  W.  Parker  on  pages  ten  and 
eleven,  he  states  that  Nixon  liberated  Mrs.  Parker  from  the  Indians  and 
rescued  old  Granny  Parker.  Mr.  Angliu,  in  his  account  contradicts,  or 
rather  corrects  this  statement.  He  says :  "I  positively  assert  that  this 
is  a  mistake  and  I  am  willing  to  be  qualified  to  the  statement  I  here 
make  and  can  prove  the  same  by  Silas  H.  Bates,  now  living  near  Graes- 
beck." 


20  CYNTHIA    ANN    PARKER. 

from  hunger  and  thirst,  with  their  clothing  torn  into 
shreads,  their  bodies  lacerated  with  briars  and  thorns, 
the  women  and  children  with  unshod  and  bleeding 

feet,  the  party  of  James  W.  Parker men, 

and 5)  women  and  children — reached  Tin- 

nin's,  at  the  old  San  Antonio  and  Nacogdoches  cross 
ing  of  the  Navasota.  Being  informed  of  their  approach, 
Messrs.  Carter  and  Courtney,  with  five  horses,  met 
them  some  miles  away,  and  thus  enabled  the  women 
and  children  to  ride.  The  few  people  around,  though 
but  returned  to  their  deserted  homes  after  the  victory 
of  San  Jacinto,  shared  all  they  had  of  food  and  cloth 
ing  with  them. 

Plummer,  after  six  days  of  wanderings  alone  in  the 
wilderness,  arrived  at  the  fort  the  same  day. 

In  due  time  the  members  of  the  party  located  tem 
porarily  as  best  suited  the  respective  families,  most  of 
them  returning  to  Fort  Parker  soon  afterwards. 

A  burrial  party  of  twelve  men  from  Fort  Houston 
went  up  and  burried  the  dead.  Their  remains  now 
repose  near  the  site  of  old  Fort  Parker.  Peace  to 
their  memories.  Unadorned  are  their  graves ;  not 
even  a  slab  of  marble  or  a  memento  of  any  kind  has 
been  erected  to  tell  the  traveler  where  rests  the  re 
mains  of  this  brave  little  band  of  pioneer  heroes  who 
wrestled  with  the  savage  for  the  mastery  of  this  proud 
domain. 

5)  We  are  unable  to  ascertain  the  exact  number.  Different  accounts 
variously  estimate  the  number  from  10  to  20. 


STORY   OF    HER    CAPTURE.  21 

After  the  massacre  the  savages  retired  with  their 
booty  to  their  own  wild  haunts  amid  the  hills  and 
valleys  of  the  beautiful  Canadian  and  Pease  rivers. 


22  CYNTHIA   ANN   PARKER. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Captives — Cynthia  Ann  and  John  Parker. 

Of  the  captives  we  will  briefly  trace  their  subsequent 
checkered  career. 

After  leaving  the  fort  the  two  tribes,  the  Coman- 
ches  and  Kiowas,  remained  and  traveled  together  until 
midnight.  They  then  halted  on  an  open  prairie, 
staked  out  their  horses,  placed  their  pickets,  and 
pitched  their  camp.  Bringing  all  their  prisoners  to 
gether  for  the  first  time,  they  tied  their  hands  behind 
them  with  raw-hide  thongs  so  tightly  as  to  cut  the  flesh, 
tied  their  feet  close  together,  and  threw  them  upon 
their  faces.  Then  the  braves,  gathering  around  with 
their  yet  bloody,  dripping  scalps,  commenced  their 
usual  war  dance.  They  danced,  screamed,  yelled, 
stamping  upon  their  prisoners,  beating  them  with 
bows  until  their  own  blood  came  near  strangling  them. 
The  remainder  of  the  night  these  frail  women  suffered 
and  had  to  listen  to  the  cries  and  groans  of  their  tender 
little  children. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Kellogg,  soon  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Keechis,  from  whom,  six  months  after  her  cap 
ture,  she  was  purchased  by  a  party  of  Delawares,  who 
carried  her  into  Nacogdoches  and  delivered  her  to 


STORY   OF   HER    CAPTURE.  23 

Gen.  Houston,  who  paid  them  $150.00,  the  amount 
they  had  paid  and  all  they  asked. 

On  the  way  thence  to  Fort  Houston,  escorted  by 
James  W.  Parker  and  others,  a  hostile  Indian  was 
slightly  wounded  and  temporarily  disabled  by  a  Mr. 
Smith.  Mrs.  Kellogg  instantly  recognized  him  as  the 
savage  who  had  scalped  the  patriarch,  Elder  John 
Parker,  whereupon,  without  judge,  jury  or  court-mar 
tial,  or  even  dallying  with  "  Judge  Lynch,"  he  was 
involentarily  hastened  to  the  " happy  hunting  grounds" 
of  his  fathers. 

Mrs.  Rachel  Plummer  remained  a  captive  about 
eighteen  months.  Soon  after  her  capture  she  was  de 
livered  of  a  child.  The  crying  of  her  infant  annoyed 
her  captors,  and  the  mother  was  forced  to  yield  up  her 
offspring  to  the  merciless  fiends, — in  whose  veins  the 
milk  of  human  sympathy  had  never  flowed, — to  be 
murdered  before  her  eyes  with  all  the  demoniacal 
demonstrations  of  brutality  intact  in  those  sav 
ages.  The  innocent  little  babe  but  six  weeks  old  was 
torn  madly  from  the  mother's  bosom  by  six  giant 
Indians,  one  of  them  clutched  the  little  prattling  inno 
cent  by  the  throat,  and  like  a  hungry  beast  with  de 
fenseless  prey,  he  held  it  out  in  his  iron  grasp  until  all 
evidence  of  life  seemed  extinct.  Mrs.  Plummer's  fee 
ble  efforts  to  save  her  child  were  utterly  fruitless.  They 
tossed  it  high  in  the  air  and  repeatedly  let  it  fall  on 


24  CYNTHIA    ANN    PARKER. 

rocks  and  frozen  earth.  Supposing  the  child  dead 
they  returned  it  to  its  mother,  but  discovering  traces  of 
lingering  life,  they  again,  by  force,  tore  it  angrily  from 
her,  tied  plaited  ropes  around  its  neck  and  threw  its 
unprotected  body  into  hedges  of  prickley  pear.  They 
would  repeatedly  pull  it  through  these  lacerating  rushes 
with  demonic  yells.  Finally,  they  tied  the  rope  at 
tached  to  its  neck  to  the  pommel  of  a  saddle  and  rode 
triumphantly  around  a  circuit  until  it  was  not  only  dead 
but  litterly  torn  to  shreds.  All  that  remained  of  that 
once  beautiful  babe  was  then  tossed  into  the  lap  of  its 
poor,  distracted  mother.  With  an  old  knife  the  weep 
ing  mother  was  allowed  to  dig  a  grave  and  bury  her 
babe. 

After  this  she  was  given  as  a  servant  to  a  very  cruel 
old  squaw,  who  treated  her  in  a  most  bruatl  manner. 
Her  son  had  been  carried  off  by  another  party  to  the 
far  West  and  she  supposed  her  husband  and  father  had 
been  killed  at  the  massacre.  Her  infant  was  dead,  and 
death  to  her  would  have  been  a  sweet  relief.  Life  was 
a  burden,  and  driven  almost  to  desperation,  she  re 
solved  no  longer  to  submit  to  the  intolerant  old  squaw. 
One  day  when  the  two  were  some  distance  from,  al 
though  still  in  sight  of  the  camp,  her  mistress  attempt 
ed  to  beat  her  with  a  club.  Determined  not  to  submit 
to  this,  she  wrenched  the  club  from  the  hands  of  the 
squaw  and  knocked  her  down.  The  Indians,  who  had 


STORY   OF   HER    CAPTURE.  25 

witnessed  the  whole  proceedings  from  their  camp,  now 
came  running  up,  shouting  at  the  top  of  their  voices. 
She  fully  expected  to  be  killed,  but  they  patted  her  on 
the  shoulder,  crying,  "  Bueno  !  bueno ! !  '  (Good! 
good  !  !)  or  well  done  !  She  now  fared  much  better 
and  soon  became  a  great  favorite  and  was  known  as 
the  "  Fighting  Squaw."  She  was  eventually  ransom 
ed  through  the  agericy  of  some  Mexican  Santa  Fe 
traders,  by  a  noble-hearted,  American  merchant  of 
that  place,  Mr.  William  Donahue.  She  was  pur 
chased  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  so  far  north  of  Santa 
Fe  that  seventeen  days  were  consumed  in  reaching 
that  place.  She  was  at  once  made  a  member  of  her 
benefactor's  family,  where  she  received  the  kindest  of 
care  and  attention.  Ere  long  she  accompanied  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Donahue  on  a  visit  to  Independence,  Mis 
souri,  where  she  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  and  em 
bracing  her  brother-in-law,  L.  D.  Nixon,  and  by  him 
was  escorted  back  to  her  people  in  Texas.1 

On    the    1 9th    of    February,    1838,  she  reached  her 
father's  house,    exactly  twenty-one    months  from  her 

(1 — During  her  stay  with  the  Indians,  Mrs.  Plnmmer  had  many 
thrilling  adventures,  which  she  often  related  after  her  reclamation.  In 
narrating  her  reminiscences,  she  said  that  in  one  of  her  rambles,  after 
she  had  been  with  the  Indians  some  time,  she  discovered  a  cave  in  the 
mountains,  and  in  company  with  the  old  squaw  that  guarded  her,  she 
explored  it  and  found  a  large  diamond,  but  her  mistress  immediately  de 
manded  it,  and  she  was  forced  to  give  it  up.  She  said  also  here  in  these 
mountains  she  saw  a  bush  which  had  thorns  on  it  resembling  fish-hooks 
which  the  Indians  used  to  catch  fish  with,  and  she  herself  has  often 
caught  trout  with  them  in  the  little  mountain  streams. 


CYNTHIA   ANN  PAKKER. 

capture.  She  had  never  seen  her  little  son,  James  Pratt, 
since  soon  after  their  capture,  and  knew  nothing  of  his 
fate.  She  wrote,  or  dictated  a  thrilling  and  graphic 
history  of  her  capture  and  the  horrors  of  her  captivity f 
the  tortures  and  hardships  she  endured,  and  all  the  inci 
dents  of  her  life  with  her  captors,  with  observations 
among  the  savages.2  In  this  book  she  tells  the  last  she 
saw  of  Cynthia  Ann  and  John  Parker.  She  died  on 
the  1 9th  of  February,  1839,  3ust  one  Year  after  reach 
ing  home.  As  a  remarkable  coincidence  it  may  be 
stated  that  she  was  born  on  the  i9th,  married  on  the 
1 9th,  captured  on  the  i9th,  released  on  the  i9th, 
reached  Independence  on  the  I9th,  arrived  at  home  on 
the  1 9th,  and  died  on  the  i9th  of  the  month. 

Her  son,  James  Pratt  Plummer,  after  six  long  and 
weary  years  of  captivity  and  suffering,  during  which 
time  he  had  lived  among  many  different  tribes  and 
traveled  several  thousand  miles,  was  ransomed  and 
taken  to  Fort  Gibson  late  in  1842,  and  reached  home 
in  February,  1843,  in  charge  of  his  grand-father.  He 


(2 — This  valuable  and  interesting  little  book  is  now  rare,  scarce  and 
out  of  print.    The  full  title  of  the  volume  is : 

"Narration  of  the  Perilous  Adventures,  miraculous  escapes  and  suf 
ferings  of  Kev.  Jas.  W.  Parker,  during  a  frontier  residence  in  Texas  of 
fifteen  years.  With  an  impartial  geographical  description  of  the  climate, 
soil,  timber,  water,  etc.,  of  Texas." — To  which  is  appended  the  narra 
tive  of  the  capture  and  subsequent  sufferings  of  Mrs.  Kachel  Plummer 
(his  daughter)  during  a  captivity  of  twenty-one  months  among  the 
Comanche  Indians,  etc.  18  mo,  p.  p.  95— 35,  boards.  Louisville,  1844. 


STORY  OF   HER   CAPTURE.  27 

became  a  respected  citizen  of  Anderson  county.  Both 
he  and  his  father  are  now  dead. 

This  still  left  in  captivity  Cynthia  and  John  Parker, 
who,  as  subsequently  learned,. were  held  by  separate 
bands.  The  brother  and  sister  thus  separated,  gradu 
ally  forgot  the  language,  manners  and  customs  of  their 
own  people,  and  became  thorough  Comanches  as  the 
long  years  stole  slowly  away.  How  long  the  camera 
of  their  young  brains  retained  impressions  of  the  old 
home  within  the  fort,  and  the  loved  faces  of  their  pale- 
faced  kindred,  no  one  knows ;  though  it  would  appear 
that  the  fearful  massacre  should  have  stamped  an  im 
press  indellible  while  life  continued.  But  the  young 
mind,  as  the  twig,  is  inclined  by  present  circumstances, 
and  often  forced  in  a  way  wholly  foreign  to  its  native 
and  original  bent. 

John  grew  up  with  the  little  semi-nude  Comanche 
boys  of  his  own  age,  and  played  at  "hunter"  and 
" warrior"  with  pop-guns  made  of  the  elder  stem,  or 
bows  and  arrows,  and  often  flushed  the  chaparral  for 
hare  and  grouse,  or  entrapped  the  finny  denizens  of 
the  mountain  brooks  with  the  many  peculiar  and  in 
genious  devices  of  the  wild  man  for  securing  for  his 
repast  the  toothsome  trout  which  abounds  so  plentifully 
in  that  elevated  and  delightful  region,  so  long  inhab 
ited  by  the  lordly  Comanches. 


28  CYNTHIA   ANN   PARKER. 

When  just  arrived  at  manhood,  John  accompanied 
a  raiding  party  down  the  Rio  Grande  and  into  Mexico. 
Among  the  captives  taken  was  a  young  Mexican  girl 
of  great  beauty,  to  whom  the  young  warrior  felt  his 
heart  go  out.  The  affection  was  reciprocated  on  the 
part  of  the  fair  Dona  Juanita,  and  the  two  were  soon 
engaged  to  be  married,  so  soon  as  they  should  arrive  at 
the  Comanche  village.  Each  day  as  the  cavalcade 
moved  leisurely,  but  steadily  along,  the  lovers  could  be 
seen  riding  together,  and  discussing  the  anticipated 
pleasures  of  connubial  life,  when  suddenly  John  was 
prostrated  by  a  violent  attack  of  small-pox.  The  cav 
alcade  could  not  tarry,  and  so  it  was  decided  that  the 
poor  fellow  should  be  left  all  alone  in  the  vast  Llano 
Esticado  to  die  or  recover  as  fate  decreed.  But  the 
little  Aztec  beauty  refused  to  leave  her  lover,  insisting 
on  her  captors  allowing  her  to  remain  and  take  care  of 
him.  To  this  the  Indians  reluctantly  consented. 
With  Juanita  to  nurse  and  cheer  him  up,  John  ling 
ered,  lived,  and  ultimately  recovered,  when,  with  as 
little  ceremony,  perhaps,  as  consummated  the  nuptials 
of  the  first  pair  in  Eden,  they  assumed  the  matrimoni 
al  relation  ;  and  Dona  Juanita' s  predilections  for  the 
customs  and  comforts  of  civilization  were  sufficiently 
strong  to  induce  her  lord  to  abandon  the  wild  and  no 
madic  life  of  a  savage  for  the  comforts  to  be  found  in  a 
straw-thatched  Jackal.  "They  settled,"  says  Mr. 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  29 

Thrall,  the  historian  of  Texas,  "on  a  stock  ranch  in  the 
far  West."  When  the  civil  war  broke  out  John  Parker 
joined  a  Mexican  company  in  the  Confederate  service, 
and  was  noted  for  his  gallantry  and  daring.  He,  how 
ever,  refused  to  leave  the  soil  of  Texas,  and  would, 
under  no  circumstances,  cross  the  Sabine  into  Louisi 
ana.  He  was  still  living  on  his  ranch  across  the  Rio 
Grande  a  few  years  ago,  but  up  to  that  time  had  never 
visited  any  of  his  relatives  in  Texas. 

Of  Cynthia  Ann  Parker  (we  will  anticipate  the 
thread  of  the  narrative).  Four  long  years  have 
elapsed  since  she  was  cruelly  torn  from  a  mother's  em 
brace  and  carried  into  captivity.  During  this  time  no 
tidings  have  been  recieved  of  her.  Many  efforts  have 
been  made  to  ascertain  her  whereabouts,  or  fate,  but 
without  success;  when  in  1840,  Col.  Len.  Williams, 
an  old  and  honored  Texian,  Mr.  -  —  Stoat,  a  trader, 
and  a  Delaware  Indian  guide,  named  "Jack  Harry," 
packed  mules  with  goods  and  engaged  in  an  expedi 
tion  of  private  traffic  with  the  Indians. 

On  the  Canadian  river  they  fell  in  withPa-ha-u-ka's 
band  of  Comanches,  with  whom  they  were  peaceably 
conversant.  And  with  this  tribe  was  Cynthia  Ann 
Parker,  who  from  the  day  of  her  capture  had  never 
seen  a  white  person.  She  was  then  about  fourteen 
years  of  age  and  had  been  with  the  Indians  nearly  five 
years. 


30  CYNTHIA    ANN    PARKER. 

Col.  Williams  found  the  Indian  into  whose  family 
she  had  been  adopted,  and  proposed  to  redeem  her, 
but  the  Comanche  told  him  all  the  goods  he  had 
would  not  ransom  her,  and  at  the  same  time  "the 
fierceness  of  his  countenance,"  says  Col.  Williams, 
"warned  me  of  the  danger  of  further  mention  of  the 
subject."  But  old  Pa-ha-u-ka  prevailed  upon  him  to 
let  them  see  her.  She  came  and  sat  down  by  the  root  of 
a  tree,  and  while  their  presence  was  doubtless  a  happy 
event  to  the  poor  stricken  captive,  who  in  her  doleful 
captivity  had  endured  everything  but  death,  she  refused 
to  speak  a  word.  As  she  sat  there,  musing,  perhaps, 
of  distant  relatives  and  friends,  and  the  bereavements 
at  the  beginning  and  progress  of  her  distress,  they  em 
ployed  every  persuasive  art  to  evoke  some  expression. 
They  told  her  of  her  playmates  and  relatives,  and 
asked  what  message  she  would  send  them,  but  she  had 
doubtless  been  commanded  to  silence,  and  with  no 
hope  or  prospect  of  return  was  afraid  to  appear  sad  or 
dejected,  and  by  a  stocial  effort  in  order  to  prevent  fu 
ture  bad  treatment,  put  the  best  face  possible  on  the 
matter.  But  the  anxiety  of  her  mind  was  betrayed  by 
the  perceptible  quiver  of  her  lips,  showing  that  she  was 
not  insensible  to  the  common  feelings  of  humanity. 

As  the  years  rolled  by  Cynthia  Ann  speedily  devel 
oped  the  charms  of  womanhood,  as  with  the  dusky 
maidens  of  her  companionship  she  performed  the 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  31 

menial  offices  of  drudgery  to  which  savage  custom 
consigns  women, — or  practiced  those  little  arts  of 
coquetry  maternal  to  the  female  heart,  whether  she  be 
a  belle  of  Madison  Square,  attired  in  the  most  elabor 
ate  toilet  from  the  elite  bazars  of  Paris,  or  the  half 
naked  savage  with  matted  locks  and  claw-like  nails. 

Doubtless  the  heart  of  more  than  one  warrior  was 
pierced  by  the  Ulyssean  darts  from  her  laughing  eyes, 
or  charmed  by  the  silvery  ripple  of  her  joyous  laughter, 
and  laid  at  her  feet  the  game  taken  after  a  long  and 
arduous  chase  among  the  Antelope  Hills. 

Among  the  number  whom  her  budding  charms 
brought  to  her  shrine  was  Peta  Nocona.  a  Comanche 

O  ' 

war  chief,  in  prowess  and  renown  the  peer  of  the 
famous  and  redoubtable  "Big  Foot,"  who  fell  in  a 
desperately  contested  hand-to-hand  encounter  with  the 
veteran  ranger  and  Indian  fighter,  Captain  S.  P.  Ross, 
now  living  at  Waco,  and  whose  wonderful  exploits 
and  deeds  of  daring  furnished  themes  for  song  and 
story  at  the  war  dance,  the  council,  and  the  camp-fire. 
Cynthia  Ann, — stranger  now  to  every  word  of  her 
mother  tongue  save  her  own  name — became  the  bride 
of  Pata  Nocona,  performing  for  her  imperious  lord  all 
the  slavish  offices  which  savageism  and  Indian  custom 
assigns  as  the  duty  of  a  wife.  She  bore  him  children, 
and  we  are  assured  loved  him  with  a  species  of  fierce 
passion,  and  wifely  devotion;  " for  some  fifteen  years 


32  CYNTHIA    ANN    PARKER. 

after  her  capture,"  says  Victor  M.  Rose,  ua  party  of 
white  hunters,  including  some  friends  of  her  family, 
visited  the  Comanche  encampment  on  the  upper  Cana 
dian,  and  recognizing  Cynthia  Ann — probably  through 
the  medium  of  her  name  alone,  sounded  her  in  a  se 
cret  manner  as  to  the  disagreeableness  of  a  return  to 
her  people  and  the  haunts  of  civilization.  She  shook 
her  head  in  a  sorrowful  negative,  and  pointed  to  her 
little,  naked  barbarians  sporting  at  her  feet,  and  to  the 
great  greasy,  lazy  buck  sleeping  in  the  shade  near  at 
hand,  the  locks  of  a  score  of  scalps  dangling  at  his 
belt,  and  whose  first  utterance  upon  arousing  would  be 
a  stern  command  to  his  meek,  pale-faced  wife.  Though 
in  truth,  exposure  to  sun  and  air  had  browned  the 
complexion  of  Cynthia  Ann  almost  as  intensely  as 
were  those  of  the  native  daughters  of  the  plains  and 
forest. 

She  retained  but  the  vaguest  remembrance  of  her 
people — as  dim  and  flitting  as  the  phantoms  of  a 
dream ;  she  was  accustomed  now  to  the  wild  life  she 
led,  and  found  in  its  repulsive  features  charms  which 
"upper  tendom"  would  have  proven  totally  deficient 
in  : — "I  am  happily  wedded,"  she  said  to  these  visitors. 
"I  love  my  husband,  who  is  good  and  kind,  and  my 
little  ones,  who,  too,  are  his,  and  I  cannot  forsake 
them!" 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  33 

What  were  the  incidents  in  the  savage  life  of  these 
children  which  in  after  times  became  the  land  marks  in 
the  train  of  memory,  and  which  with  civilized  crea 
tures  serves  as  incentives  to  reminiscence? 

"Doubtless,"  says  Mr.  Rose,  "Cynthia  Ann  arrayed 
herself  in  the  calico  borne  from  the  sacking  of  Linville, 
and  fled  with  the  discomfited  Comanches  up  the  Gaud- 
aloupe  and  Colorado,  at  the  ruthless  march  of  John 
H.  Moore,  Ben  McCulloch  and  their  hardy  rangers. 
They  must  have  been  present  at  the  battle  of  Antelope 
Hills,  on  the  Canadian,  when  Col.  John  S.  Ford, 
"Old  Rip"  and  Captain  S.  P.  Ross  encountered  the 
whole  force  of  the  Comanches,  in  1858;  perhaps  John 
Parker  was  an  actor  in  that  celebrated  battle ;  and 
again  at  the  Wichita." 

" Their' s  must  have  been  a  hard  and  unsatisfactory 
life — the  Comanches  are  veritable  Ishmaelites,  their 
hands  being  raised  against  all  men,  and  every  man's 
hand  against  them.  Literally,  "eternal  vigilance  was 
the  price  of  liberty"  with  them,  and  of  life  itself. 
Every  night  the  dreaded  surprise  was  sought  to  be 
guarded  against ;  and  every  copse  was  scanned  for  the 
anticipated  ambuscade  while  upon  the  march.  Did 
they  flount  the  blood-drabbled  scalps  of  helpless  whites 
in  fiendish  glee,  and  assist  at  the  cruel  torture  of  the 
unfortunate  prisoners  that  fell  into  their  hands?  Alas  ! 
forgetful  of  their  race  and  tongue,  they  were  thorough 


34  CYNTHIA    ANN    PARKER. 

savages,  and  acted  in  all  particulars  just  as  their  Indian 
comrades  did.  Memory  was  stored  but  with  the  hard 
ships  and  the  cruelties  of  the  life  about  them ;  arid  the 
stolid  indifference  of  mere  animal  existence  furnishes 
no  finely  wrought  springs  for  the  rebound  of  reminis 
cence." 

******** 

The  year  1846,  one  decade  from  the  fall  of  Parker's 
Fort,  witnessed  the  end  of  the  Texian  Republic,  in 
whose  councils  Isaac  Parker  served  as  a  senator,  and 
the  blending  of  the  Lone  Star  with  the  gallaxy  of  the 
great  constellation  of  the  American  Union  • — during 
which  time  many  efforts  were  made  to  ascertain  defi 
nitely  the  whereabouts  of  the  captives,  as  an  indispen 
sable  requisite  to  their  reclamation  •  sometimes  by  soli 
tary  scouts  and  spies,  sometimes  through  the  medium  of 
negotiation  •  and  sometimes  by  waging  direct  war 
against  their  captors, — but  all  to  no  avail. 

******** 

Another  decade  passes  away,  and  the  year  1856  ar 
rives.  The  hardy  pioneers  have  pushed  the  frontier  of 
civilization  far  to  the  north  and  west,  driving  the  In 
dian  and  the  buffalo  before  them.  The  scene  of  Park 
er's  Fort  is  now  in  the  heart  of  a  dense  population; 
farms,  towns,  churches,  and  school  houses  lie  along  the 
path  by  which  the  Indians  marched  from  their  camp 
at  the  " water-hole"  in  that  bloody  May  of  1836, 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  35 

Isaac  Parker  is  now  a  Representative  in  the  Legislature 
of  the  State  of  Texas.  It  is  now  twenty  years  since  the 
battle  of  San  Jacinto  •  twenty  years  since  John  and 
Cynthia  Ann  were  borne  into  a  captivity  worse  than 
death  •  the  last  gun  of  the  Mexican  war  rung  out  its 
last  report  over  the  conquered  capital  of  Mexico  ten 
long  years  ago ;  but  John  and  Cynthia  Ann  Parker 
have  sent  no  tokens  to  their  so  long  anxious  friends 
that  they  even  live  :  Alas  !  time  even  blunts  the  edge 
of  anxiety,  and  sets  bounds  alike  to  the  anguish  of 
man,  as  well  as  to  his  hopes. 

The  punishment  of  Prometheas  is  not  of  this  world  ! 


36  CYNTHIA   ANN    PARKER. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Battle  of  Antelope  Hills. 

"Brave  Colonel  Ford  the  commander  and  ranger  bold, 
On  the  South  Canadian  did  the  Comauches  behold, 

On  the  12th  of  May,  at  rising  of  sun, 
The  armies  did  meet  and  the  battle  begun." 


The  battle  of  the  South  Canadian  or  " Antelope 
Hills,"  fought  in  1858,  was  probably  one  of  the  most 
splendid  scenic  exhibitions  of  Indian  warfare  ever  en 
acted  upon  Texas  soil.  This  was  the  immemorial 
home  of  the  Comanches  •  here  they  sought  refuge  from 
their  marauding  expeditions  into  Texas  and  Mexico ; 
and  here,  in  their  veritable  "city  of  refuge,"  should 
the  adventurous  and  daring  rangers  seek  them,  it  was 
certain  that  they  would  be  encountered  in  full  force — 
Pohebits  Quasho — "Iron  Jacket,"  so  called  from  the 
fact  that  he  wore  a  coat  of  scale  mail,  a  curious  piece 
of  ancient  armor,  which  doubtless  had  been  stripped 
from  the  body  of  some  unfortunate  Spanish  Knight 
slain,  perhaps,  a  century  before — some  chevalier  who 
followed  Coronado,  De  Leon,  La  Salle — was  the  war 
chief.  He  was  a  "Big  Medicine"  man,  or  Prophet, 
and  claimed  to  be  invulnerable  to  balls  and  arrows 
aimed  at  his  person,  as  by  a  necromantic  puff  of  his 
breath  the  missives  were  diverted  from  their  course,  or 
charmed,  and  made  to  fall  harmless  at  his  feet. 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  37 

Peta  Nocono,  the  young  and  daring  husband  of 
Cynthia  Ann  Parker,  was  second  in  command. 

About  the  ist  of  May,  in  the  year  above  named, 
Col.  John  S.  Ford,  ("Old  Rip,")  at  the  head  of  100 
Texian  Rangers — comprising  such  leaders  as  Capts. 
S.  P.  Ross,  (the  father  of  Gen.  L.  S.  Ross)  ;  W.  A. 
Pitts,  Preston,  Tankersley,  and  a  contingent  of  in 
Toncahua  Indians,  the  latter  commanded  by  their  cele 
brated  chief,  Placido — so  long  the  faithful  and  implic 
itly  trusted  friend  of  the  whites — marched  on  a  cam 
paign  against  the  maruding  Comanches,  determined  to 
follow  them  up  to  their  stronghold  amid  the  hills  of  the 
Canadian  river,  and  if  possible  surprise  them  and  in 
flict  a  severe  and  lasting  chastisement. 

After  a  toilsome  march  of  several  days  the  Toncahua 
scouts  reported  that  they  were  in  the  immediate  vicini 
ty  of  the  Comanche  encampment.  The  Comanches, 
though  proverbial  for  their  sleepless  vigilance,  were  un 
suspicious  of  danger  •  and  so  unsuspected  was  the  ap 
proach  of  the  rangers,  that  on  the  day  preceding  the 
battle,  Col.  Ford  and  Capt.  Ross  stood  in  the  old  road 
from  Fort  Smith  to  Santa  Fe,  just  north  of  the  Rio 
Negro  or  "False  Wichita,"  and  watched  through  their 
glasses  the  Comanches  running  buffalo  in  the  valleys 
still  more  to  the  north.  That  night  the  Toncahua 
spies  completed  the  hazardous  mission  of  locating  defi 
nitely  the  position  of  the  enemy's  encampment.  The 


CYNTHIA   ANN    PARKER. 

next  morning  (May  12)  the  rangers  and  "reserve"  or 
friendly  Indians,  marched  before  sunrise  to  the  attack. 

Placido  claimed  for  his  "red  warriors"  the  privi 
lege  of  wreaking  vengeance  upon  their  hereditary 
enemies.  His  request  was  granted, — and  the  Tonca- 
huas  effected  a  complete  surprise.  The  struggle  was 
short,  sharp  and  sanguinary.  The  women  and  chil 
dren  were  made  prisoners,  but  not  a  Comanche  brave 
surrendered.  Their  savage  pride  preferred  death  to 
the  restraints  and  humiliations  of  captivity.  Not  a 
single  warrior  escaped  to  bear  the  sorrowful  tidings  of 
this  destructive  engagement  to  their  people. 

A  short  time  after  the  sun  had  lighted  the  tops  of  the 
hills,  the  rangers  came  in  full  view  of  the  hostile  camp, 
pitched  in  one  of  the  picturesque  valleys  of  the  Cana 
dian,  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  stream,  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  famous  "Antelope  Hills." 

The  panorama  thus  presented  to  the  view  of  the 
rangers  was  beautiful  in  the  extreme,  and  their  pent- 
up  enthusiasm  found  vent  in  a  shout  of  exultation, 
which  was  speedily  suppressed  by  Col.  Ford.  Just  at 
this  moment  a  solitary  Comanche  was  descried  riding 
southward,  evidently  heading  for  the  village  which 
Placido  had  so  recently  destroyed.  He  was  wholly  un- 
concious  of  the  proximity  of  an  enemy.  Instant  pur 
suit  was  now  made  ;  he  turned,  and  fled  at  full  speed 
toward  the  main  camp  across  the  Canadian,  closely  fol- 


STORY    OF   HER    CAPTURE.  39 

lowed  by  the  rangers.  He  dashed  across  the  stream, 
and  thus  revealed  to  his  pursuers  the  locality  of  a  safe 
ford  across  the  miry  and  almost  impassable  river.  He 
rushed  into  the  village  beyond,  sounding  the  notes  of 
alarm ;  and  soon  the  Comanche  warriors  presented  a 
bold  front  of  battle-line  between  their  women  and 
children  and  the  advancing  rangers.  After  a  few  min 
utes  occupied  in  forming  line  of  battle,  both  sides  were 
arrayed  in  full  force  and  effect.  The  friendly  Indians 
were  placed  on  the  right,  and  thrown  a  little  forward. 
Col.  Ford's  object  was  to  deceive  the  Comanches  as  to 
the  character  of  the  attacking  force,  and  as  to  the  qual 
ity  of  arms  they  possessed. 

Pohebits  Quasho,  arrayed  in  all  the  trappings  of  his 
"war  toggery" — coat  of  mail,  shield,  bow  and  lance, 
completed  by  a  head-dress  decorated  with  feathers  and 
long  red  flannel  streamers;  and  besmeared  in  " war 
paint," — gaily  dashed  about  on  his  " war-horse"  mid 
way  of  the  opposing  lines,  delivering  taunts  and  chal 
lenges  to  the  whites.  As  the  old  chief  dashed  to  and 
fro  a  number  of  rifles  were  discharged  at  him  in  point 
blank  range  without  any  effect  whatever ;  which  seem 
ing  immunity  to  death  encouraged  his  warriors  greatly  ; 
and  induced  even  some  of  the  more  superstitious 
among  the  rangers  to  enquire  within  themselves  if  it 
were  possible  that  "Old  Iron  Jacket"  really  bore  a 
charmed  life?  Followed  by  a  few  of  his  braves,  he 


40  CYNTHIA    ANN    PAKKER. 

now  bore  down  upon  the  rangers,  described  a  few 
" charmed  circles,"  gave  a  few  necromantic  puffs  with 
his  breath  and  let  fly  several  arrows  at  Col.  Ford,  Capt. 
Ross  and  chief  Placido ;  receiving  their  fire  without 
harm.  But  as  he  approached  the  line  of  the  Tonca- 
huas,  a  rifle  directed  by  the  steady  nerve  and  unerring 
eye  of  one  of  their  number,  Jim  Pockmark,  brought 
the  "Big  Medicine"  to  the  dust.  The  shot  was  a 
mortal  one.  The  fallen  chieftain  was  instantly  sur 
rounded  by  his  braves,  but  the  spirit  of  the  conjuring 
brave  had  taken  its  flight  to  the  "happy  hunting 
grounds." 

These  incidents  occupied  but  a  brief  space  of  time, 
when  the  order  to  charge  was  given  ;  and  then  ensued 
one  of  the  grandest  assaults  ever  made  against  the 
Comanches.  The  enthusiastic  shouts  of  the  rangers 
and  the  triumphant  yell  of  their  red  allys  greeted  the 
welcome  order.  It  was  responded  to  by  the  defiant 
"war-hoop"  of  the  Comanches,  and  in  those  virgin 
hills,  remote  from  civilization,  the  saturnalia  of  battle 
was  inaugurated.  The  shouts  of  enraged  combatants, 
the  wail  of  women,  the  piteous  cries  of  terrified  chil 
dren,  the  howling  of  frightened  dogs,  the  deadly  re 
ports  of  rifle  and  revolver,  constituted  a  discordant 
confusion  of  sounds,  blent  together  in  an  unearthly 
mass  of  infernal  noise. 

The  conflict  was  sharp  and  quick — a  charge ;  a  mo 
mentary  exchange  of  rifle  and  arrow  shots,  and  the 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  41 

heart-rending  wail  of  discomfiture  and  dismay,  and 
the  beaten  Comanches  abandoned  their  lodges  and 
camp  to  the  victors,  and  began  a  disorderly  retreat. 
But  sufficient  method  was  observed  to  take  advantage 
of  each  grove  of  timber,  each  hill  and  ravine,  to  make 
a  stand  against  their  pursuers ;  and  thus  enable  the 
women  and  children  to  make  their  escape.  The  noise 
of  battle  now  diverged  from  a  common  center  like 
the  spokes  of  a  wheel,  and  continued  to  greet  the  ear 
for  several  hours,  gradually  growing  fainter  as  the  pur 
suit  disappeared  in  the  distance. 

But  another  division,  under  the  vigilant  Peta  No- 
cona,  was  soon  marching  through  the  hills  north  of 
the  Canadian,  to  the  rescue.  Though  ten  miles  dis 
tant,  his  quick  ear  had  caught  the  first  sounds  of  the 
battle ;  and  soon  he  was  riding,  with  Cynthia  Ann  by 
his  side,  at  the  head  of  (500)  five  hundred  warriors. 

About  i  o'clock  of  the  afternoon  the  last  of  the 
rangers  returned  from  the  pursuit  of  Pohebits  Qua- 
sho's  discomfited  braves,  just  in  time  to  anticipate  this 
threatened  attack. 

As  Capt.  Ross  (who  was  one  of  the  last  to  return) 
rode  up,  he  enquired  uWhat  hour  of  the  morning  is 
it,  Colonel?"  "Morning!"  exclaimed  Col.  Ford,  "it 
is  one  o'clock  of  the  afternoon  ;"  so  unconscious  is  one  of 
the  flight  of  time  during  an  engagement,  that  the  work  of 


42  CYNTHIA   ANN    PARKER. 

hours  seems  comprised  within    the    space    of    a   few 
moments. 

4 "Hello!  what  are  you  in  line  of  battle  for?"  asked 
Ross.  "Look  at  the  hills  there,  and  you  will  see," 
calmly  replied  Col.  Ford,  pointing  to  the  hills  some 
half  a  mile  distant,  behind  which  the  forces  of  Peta 
Nocona  were  visible ;  an  imposing  line  of  500  war 
riors  drawn  up  in  battle  array. 

Col.  Ford  had  with  221  men  fought  and  routed  over 
400  Comanches,  and  now  he  was  confronted  by  a 
stronger  force,  fresh  from  their  village  still  higher  up 
on  the  Canadian.  They  had  come  to  drive  the  "pale 
faces"  and  their  hated  copper-colored  allies  from  the 
captured  camp,  to  retake  prisoners,  to  retake  over  four 
hundred  head  of  horses  and  an  immense  quantity  of 
plunder.  They  did  not  fancy  the  defiant  state  of 
preparations  awaiting  them  in  the  valley,  however,  and 
were  waiting  to  avail  themselves  of  some  incautious 
movement  on  the  part  of  the  rangers,  when  the  wily 
Peta  Nocona  with  his  forces  would  spring  like  a  lion 
from  his  lair,  and  with  one  combined  and  desperate 
effort  swoop  down  and  annihilate  the  enemy.  But  his 
antagonist  was  a  soldier  of  too  much  sagacity  to  allow 
any  advantage  to  a  vigilant  foe. 

The  two  forces  remained  thus  contemplating  each 
other  for  over  an  hour ;  during  which  time  a  series  of 
operations  ensued  between  single  combatants  illustrat- 


STORY   OF    HER    CAPTURE.  43 

ive  of  the  Indian  mode  of  warfare,  and  the  marked 
difference  between  the  nomadic  Comanche  and  his 
semi-civilized  congeners,  the  Tonchua.  The  Ton- 

O  7 

chuas  took  advantage  of  ravines,  trees  and  other  natu 
ral  shelter.  Their  arms  were  rifles  and  "six-shooters." 
The  Comanches  came  to  the  attack  with  shield  and 
bow  and  lance,  mounted  on  gaily  caparisoned  and 
prancing  steeds,  and  flaunting  feathers  and  all  the 
"georgeous"  display  incident  to  savage  "  finery"  and 
pomp.  They  are  probably  the  most  expert  equestri 
ans  in  the  world.  A  Comanche  warrior  would  gaily 
canter  to  a  point  half  way  between  the  opposing  lines, 
yell  a  defiant  "war  hoop,"  and  shake  his  shield.  This 
was  a  challenge  to  single  combat. 

Several  of  the  friendly  Indians  who  accepted  such 
challenges  were  placed  hors  de  combat  by  their  more 
expert  adversaries,  and  in  consequence  Col.  Ford  or 
dered  them  to  decline  the  savage  banters ;  much  to  the 
dissatisfaction  of  Placido,  who  had  conducted  himself 
throughout  the  series  of  engagements  with  the  bearing 
of  a  savage  hero. 

Says  Col.  Ford:  "In  these  combats  the  mind  of  the 
spectator  was  vividly  carried  back  to  the  days  of  chiv 
alry  ;  the  jousts  and  tournaments  of  knights  •  and  to 
the  concomitants  of  those  scenic  exhibitions  of  gal 
lantry.  The  feats  of  horsemanship  were  splendid,  the 
lances  and  shields  were  used  with  great  dexterity,  and 


44  CYNTHIA   ANN    PARKER. 

the  whole  performance  was  a  novel  show  to  civilized 


man." 


Col.  Ford  now  ordered  Placido,  with  a  part  of  his 
warriors,  to  advance  in  the  direction  of  the  enemy,  and  if 
possible  draw  them  in  the  valley,  so  as  to  afford  the 
rangers  an  opportunity  to  charge  them.  This  had  the 
desired  effect,  and  the  rangers  were  ready  to  deliver  a 
charge,  when  it  was  discovered  that  the  friendly  Indi 
ans  had  removed  the  white  badges  from  their  heads 
because  they  served  as  targets  for  the  Comanches,  con 
sequently  the  rangers  were  unable  to  distinguish  friend 
from  foe.  This  necessitated  the  entire  withdrawal  of 
the  Indians.  The  Comanches  witnessed  these  prepa 
rations  and  now  commenced  to  recoil.  The  rangers 

o 

advanced ;  the  trot,  the  gallop,  the  headlong  charge, 
followed  in  rapid  succession.  Lieut.  Nelson  made  a 
skillful  movement  and  struck  the  enemy's  left  flank. 
The  Comanche  line  was  broken.  A  running  fight  for 

&        o 

three  or  four  miles  ensued.  The  enemy  was  driven  back 
wherever  he  made  a  stand.  The  most  determined  re 
sistance  was  made  in  a  timbered  ravine.  Here  one  of 
Placido's  warriors  was  killed,  and  one  of  the  rangers, 
young  George  W.  Pascal  wounded.  The  Comanches 
left  some  dead  upon  the  spot  and  had  several  more 
wounded.  After  routing  them  at  this  point  the  rangers 
continued  to  pursue  them  some  distance,  intent  upon 
taking  the  women  and  children  prisoners  •  but  Peta 


STOKY   OF    HEK    CAPTURE.  45 

Nocona,  by  the  exercise  of  those  commanding  qualities 
which  had  often  before  signalized  his  conduct  on  the 
field,  succeeded  in  covering  their  retreat,  and  thus  al 
lowing  them  to  escape.  It  was  now  about  4  p.  M.,  both 
horses  and  men  were  almost  entirely  exhausted,  and 
Col.  Ford  ordered  a  halt  and  returned  to  the  village. 

Brave  old  Placido  and  his  warriors  fought  like  so 
many  demons.  It  was  difficult  to  restrain  them,  so 
anxious  were  they  to  wreak  vengeance  on  the  Co- 
manches. 

In  all  of  these  engagements  seventy-five  (75)  Co- 
manches  "bit  the  dust." 

The  loss  of  the  rangers  was  small, — two  killed  and 
five  or  six  wounded. 

The  trophies  of  Pohebits  Quasho,  including  his  lance, 
bow,  shield,  head-dress  and  the  celebrated  coat  of  scale 
mail,  was  deposited  by  Col.  Ford  in  the  State  archives 
at  Austin,  where,  doubtless,  they  may  yet  be  seen, — as 
curious  relics  of  by-gone  days. 

The  lamented  old  chief,  Placido,  fell  a  victim  to  the 
revengeful  Comanches  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
great  civil  war,  between  the  North  and  South ;  being 
assassinated  by  a  party  of  his  enemies  on  the  reserva 
tion,  near  Fort  Sill. 

The  venerable  John  Henry  Brown,  some  years 
since,  paid  a  merited  tribute  to  his  memory  through 
the  columns  of  the  Dallas  Herald* 


46  CYNTHIA    ANN    PARKER. 

Of  Placido  it  has  been  said  that  he  was  the  "soul  of 
honor,"  and  "never  betrayed  a  trust."  That  he  was 
brave  to  the  utmost,  we  have  only  to  refer  to  his 
numerous  exploits  during  his  long  and  gratuitous  ser 
vice  on  our  frontiers.  He  was  implicitly  trusted  by 
Burleson  and  other  partisan  leaders ;  and  rendered  in 
valuable  services  in  behalf  of  the  early  Texian  pion 
eers  ;  in  recognition  of  which  he  never  recieved  any 
reward  of  a  material  nature,  beyond  a  few  paltry 
pounds  of  gun-powder  and  salt.  Imperial  Texas 
should  rear  a  monument  commemorative  of  his  mem 
ory.  He  was  the  more  than  Tammany  of  Texas ! 
But  I  am  digressing  from  the  narrative  proper. 

"Doubtless,"  says  Rose,  "Cynthia  Ann  rode  from 
this  ill-starred  field  with  her  infant  daughter  pressed  to 
her  bosom,  and  her  sons — two  youths  of  about  ten  and 
twelve  years  of  age,  at  her  side, — as  fearful  of  capture 
at  the  hands  of  the  hated  whites,  as  years  ago — imme 
diately  after  the  massacre  of  Parker's  Fort — she  had 
been  anxious  for  the  same." 


GENERAL  L    S    Ross. 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  47 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Genl.  L.  S.  Ross.— Battle  of  the  Wichita. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  in  this  connection^  to  assume 
the  role  of  biographer  to  so  distinguished  a  personage 
as  is  the  chevalier  Bayard  of  Texas — General  Lawrence 
Sullivan  Ross.  That  task  should  be  left  to  an  abler 
pen ;  and  besides,  it  would  be  impossible  to  do  any 
thing  like  justice  to  the  romantic,  adventurous,  and 
altogether  splendid  and  brilliant  career  of  the  brave  and 
daring  young  ranger  who  rescued  Cynthia  Ann  Park 
er  from  captivity,  at  least  in  the  circumscribed  limits  of 
a  brief  biographical  sketch,  such  as  we  shall  be  com 
pelled  to  confine  ourself  to ;  yet,  some  brief  mention 
of  his  services  and  exploits  as  a  ranger  captain,  byway 
of  an  introduction  to  the  reader  beyond  the  limits  of 
Texas,  where  his  name  and  fame  are  as  household 
words,  is  deemed  necessary,  hence  we  beg  leave  here 
to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  his  life. 

"Texas,  though  her  annals  be  brief,"  says  the 
author  of  "Ross'  Texas  Brigade,"  counts  upon  her 
"roll  of  honor"  the  names  of  many  heros,  living  and 
dead.  Their  splendid  services  are  the  inestimable  leg 
acies  of  the  past  and  present,  to  the  future.  Of  the 
latter,  it  is  the  high  prerogative  of  the  State  to  enbalm 


48  CYNTHIA    ANN    PARKER. 

their  names  and  memories  as  perpetual  examples  to 
excite  the  generous  emulation  of  the  Texian  youth  to 
the  latest  posterity.  Of  the  former  it  is  our  pleasant 
province  to  accord  them  those  honors  which  their  ser 
vices,  in  so  eminent  a  degree,  entitle  them  to  receive. 
Few  lands,  since  the  days  of  the  " Scottish  Chiefs," 
have  furnished  material  upon  which  to  predicate  a 
Douglas,  a  Wallace,  or  a  Ravenswood  ;  and  the  adven 
tures  of  chivalric  enterprise,  arrant  quest  of  danger, 
and  the  personal  combat,  were  relegated,  together  with 
the  knight's  armorial  trappings,  to  the  rusty  archives 
of  "Tower"  and  "Pantheon,"  until  the  Comanche 
Bedouins  of  the  Texian  plains  tendered  in  bold  defi 
ance  the  savage  gauntlet  to  the  pioneer  knights  of  pro 
gress  and  civilization.  And  though  her  heraldic  roll 
glows  with  the  names  of  a  Houston,  a  Rusk,  Lamar, 
McCulloch,  Hayes,  Chevellie,  which  illumine  the 
pages  of  her  history  with  an  effulgence  of  glory,  Texas 
never  nurtured  on  her  maternal  bosom  a  son  of  more 
filial  devotion,  of  more  loyal  patriotism,  or  indomitable 
will  to  do  and  dare,  than  L.  S.  Ross." 

Lawrence  Sullivan  Ross  was  born  in  the  village  of 
Bentonsport,  Ohio,  in  the  year  1838.  His  father, 
Captain  S..  P.  Ross,  emigrated  to  Texas  in  1839, 
casting  his  fortunes  with  the  struggling  pioneers  who 
were  blazing  the  pathway  of  civilization  into  the  wilds 
of  a  terra  incognita,  as  Texas  then  was. 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  49 

" Captain  S.  P.  Ross  was,  for  many  years,  pre-emi 
nent  as  a  leader  against  the  implacable  savages,  who 
made  frequent  incursions  into  the  settlements.  The 
duty  of  repelling  these  forays  usually  devolved  upon 
Captain  Ross  and  his  neighbors,  and,  for  many  years, 
his  company  constituted  the  only  bulwark  of  safety 
between  the  feeble  colonist  and  the  scalping  knife. 
The  rapacity  and  treachery  of  his  Comanche  and 
Kiowa  foes  demanded  of  Captain  Ross  sleepless  vigi 
lance,  acute  sagacity,  and  a  will  that  brooked  no  ob 
stacle  or  danger.  It  was  in  the  performance  of  this 
arduous  duty  that  he  slew,  in  single  combat,  "Big 
Foot,"  a  Comanche  chief  of  great  prowess,  and  who 
was  for  many  years  the  scourge  of  the  early  Texas 
frontier.  The  services  of  Captain  S.  P.  Ross  are  still 
held  in  grateful  remembrance  by  the  descendants  of 
his  compatriots,  and  his  memory  will  never  be  suffered 
to  pass  away  while  Texians  feel  a  pride  in  the  sterling 
worth  of  the  pioneers  who  laid  the  foundation  of  Tex 
as'  greatness  and  glory. —  Vide  "Ross*  Texas  Bri 
gade,"  p.  158. 

The  following  incident,  as  illustrative  of  the  charac 
ter  and  spirit  of  the  man  and  times,  is  given:  "On 
one  occasion,  Captain  Ross,  who  had  been  visiting  a 
neighbor,  was  returning  home,  afoot,  accompanied  by 
his  little  son,  'Sul,'  as  the  General  was  familiarly 
called.  When  within  half  a  mile  of  his  house,  he  was 


50  CYNTHIA   ANN    PARKEK. 

surrounded  by  fifteen  or  twenty  mounted  Comanche 
warriors,  who  commenced  an  immediate  attack.  The 
Captain,  athletic  and  swift  of  foot,  threw  his  son  on 
his  back,  and  outran  their  ponies  to  the  house,  escap 
ing  unhurt  amid  a  perfect  shower  of  arrows." 

Such  were  among  the  daily  experiences  of  the  child, 
and  with  such  impressions  stamped  upon  the  infantile 
mind,  it  was  but  natural  that  the  enthusiastic  spirit  of 
the  ardent  youth  should  lead  him  to  such  adventures 
upon  the  "war-path,"  similar  to  those  that  had  signal 
ized  his  honored  father's  prowess  upon  so  many  occa 
sions. 

Hence,  we  find  "Sul"  Ross,  during  vacation  from 
his  studies  at  Florence  Weslean  University,  Alabama, 
though  a  beardless  boy,  scarcely  twenty  years  of  age, 
in  command  of  a  contingent  of  135  friendly  Indians, 
co-operating  with  the  United  States  cavalry  under  the 
dashing  Major  Earl  Van  Dorn,  in  a  compaign  against 
the  Comanches. 

#          #          -x-          *•          #  #•&# 

Notwithstanding  the  severe  chastisement  that  had 
been  inflicted  on  the  Comanches  at  " Antelope  Hills," 
they  soon  renewed  their  hostilities,  committing  many 
depredations  and  murders  during  the  summer  of  1858. 

Early  in  September  Major  Van  Dorn  received  or 
ders  from  Gen.  Twiggs,  to  equip  four  companies,  in 
cluding  Ross'  "red  warriors,"  and  go  out  on  a  scout- 


STORY    OF   HER   CAPTURE.  51 

ing  expedition  against  the  hostile  Indians.  This  he 
did,  penetrating  the  heart  of  the  Indian  country  where 
he  proceeded  to  build  a  stockade,  placing  within  it  all 
the  pack  mules,  extra  horses  and  supplies,  which  was 
left  in  charge  of  the  infantry. 

Ross'  faithful  Indian  scouts  soon  reported  the  discov 
ery  of  a  large  Comanche  village  near  the  Wichita 
Mountains,  about  ninety  miles  away.  The  four  com 
panies,  attended  by  the  spies,  immediately  set  out  for 
the  village,  and  after  a  fatiguing  march  of  thirty-six 
hours,  causing  the  men  to  be  continuously  in  the  saddle 
the  lattei  sixteen  hours  of  the  ride,  arrived  in  the  im 
mediate  vicinity  of  the  Indian  camp  just  at  daylight  on 
the  morning  of  October  ist. 

A  reconnoissance  showed  that  the  wily  Comanches 
were  not  apprehensive  of  an  attack,  and  were  sleeping 
in  fancied  security.  The  horses  of  the  tribe,  which 
consisted  of  a  caballado  of  about  500  head,  were  graz 
ing  near  the  outskirts  of  the  village.  Major  Van  Dorn 
directed  Captain  Ross,  at  the  head  of  his  Indians,  to 
"round  up"  the  horses,  and  drive  them  from  the 
camp,  which  was  effected  speedily,  and  thus  the  Co 
manches  were  forced  to  fight  on  foot — a  proceeding 
extremely  harrowing  to  the  proud  warriors'  feelings. 

"Just  as  the  sun  was  peeping  above  the  eastern 
horizon,"  says  Victor  M.  Rose,  whose  graphic  narra 
tive  we  again  quote,  "Van  Dorn  charged  the  upper 


52  CYNTHIA    ANN    PARKER. 

end  of  the  village,  while  Ross'  command,  in  conjunc 
tion  with  a  detachment  of  United  States  cavalry, 
charged  the  lower.  The  village  was  strung  out  along 
the  banks  of  a  branch  for  several  hundred  yards.  The 
morning  was  very  foggy,  and  after  a  few  moments  of 
firing  the  smoke  and  fog  became  so  dense  that  objects 
at  but  a  short  distance  could  be  distinguished  only  with 
great  difficulty.  The  Comanches  fought  with  absolute 
desperation,  and  contended  for  every  advantage,  as 
their  women  and  children.,  and  all  their  possessions, 
were  in  peril. 

•'A  few  moments  after  the  engagement  became  gen 
eral,  Ross  discovered  a  number  of  Comanches  running 
down  to  the  branch,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards 
from  the  village,  and  concluded  that  they  were  beating 
a  retreat.  Immediately,  Ross,  Lieutenant  Van  Camp 
of  the  United  States  Army,  Alexander,  a  ' regular' 
soldier,  and  one  Caddo  Indian,  of  Ross'  command, 
ran  to  the  point  with  the  intention  of  intercepting  them. 
Arriving,  it  was  discovered  that  the  fugitives  were  the 
women  and  children.  In  a  moment,  another  posse  of 
women  and  children  came  running  immediately  past 
the  squad  of  Ross,  who,  discovering  a  little  white  girl 
among  the  number,  made  his  Caddo  Indian  grab  her 
as  she  was  passing.  The  little  pale-face — apparently 
about  twelve  years  of  age — was  badly  frightened  at 
finding  herself  a  captive  to  a  strange  Indian  and 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  53 

stranger  white  men,  and  was  hard  to  manage  at  first. 
"Ross  now  discovered,  through  the  fog  and  smoke 
of  the  battle,  that  a  band  of  some  twenty-five  Co- 
manche  warriors  had  cut  his  small  party  off  from  com 
munication  with  Van  Dorn,  and  were  bearing  immedi 
ately  down  upon  them.  They  shot  Lieutenant  Van 
Camp  through  the  heart,  killing  him  ere  he  could  fire 
his  double-barrelled  shot-gun.  Alexander,  the  United 
States  Cavalryman,  was  likewise  shot  down  before  he 
could  fire  his  gun  (a  rifle).  Ross  was  armed  with  a 
Sharp's  rifle,  and  attempted  to  fire  upon  the  exultant 
red  devils,  but  the  cap  snapped.  'Mohee,'  a  Co- 
manche  warrior,  siezed  Alexander's  rifle  and  shot  Ross 
down.  The  indomitable  young  ranger  fell  upon  the 
side  on  which  his  pistol  was  borne,  and  though  partially 
paralyzed  by  the  shot,  he  turned  himself,  and  was  get 
ting  his  pistol  out  when  'Mohee'  drew  his  butcher- 
knife,  and  started  towards  his  prostrate  foe — some 
fifteen  feet  away — with  the  evident  design  of  stabbing 
and  scalping  him.  He  made  but  a  few  steps,  however, 
when  one  of  his  companions  cried  out  something  in  the 
Comanche  tongue,  which  was  a  signal  to  the  band, 
and  they  broke  away  in  confusion.  'Mohee'  ran 
about  twenty  steps,  when  a  wire-cartridge,  containing 
nine  buck-shot,  fired  from  a  gun  in  the  hands  of  Lieu 
tenant  James  Majors,  (afterwards  a  Confederate  Gen 
eral),  struck  him  between  the  shoulders,  and  he  fell 


54  CYNTHIA    ANN    PARKER. 

forward  on  his  face,  dead.  'Mohee'  was  an  old  ac 
quaintance  of  Ross,  as  the  latter  had  seen  him  fre 
quently  at  his  father's  post  on  the  frontier,  and  recog 
nized  him  as  soon  as  their  eyes  met.  The  faithful 
Caddo  held  on  to  the  little  girl  throughout  this  desper 
ate  melee,  and,  strange  to  relate,  neither  were  harmed. 
The  Caddo,  doubtless,  owed  his  escape  to  the  fact  that 
the  Comanches  were  fearful  of  wounding  or  killing  the 
little  girl.  This  whole  scene  transpired  in  a  few  mo 
ments,  and  Captain  N.  G.  Evans'  company  of  the 
Second  United  States  Cavalry,  had  taken  possession  of 
the  lower  end  of  the  Comanche  village,  and  Major 
Van  Dorn  held  the  upper,  and  the  Comanches  were 
running  into  the  hills  and  brush ;  not,  however,  before 
an  infuriated  Comanche  shot  the  gallant  Van  Dorn 
with  an  arrow.  Van  Dorn  fell,  and  it  was  supposed 
that  he  was  mortally  wounded.  In  consequence  of 
their  wounds,  the  two  chieftains  were  compelled  to  re 
main  on  the  battle  ground  five  or  six  days.  After  the 
expiration  of  this  time,  Ross'  Indians  made  a  'litter,' 
after  their  fashion,  borne  between  two  gentle  mules, 
and  in  it  placed  their  heroic  and  beloved  'boy  cap 
tain,'  and  set  out  for  the  settlements  at  Fort  Belknap. 
When  this  mode  of  conveyance  would  become  too 
painful,  by  reason  of  the  rough,  broken  nature  of 
the  country,  these  brave  Caddos — whose  race  and  his 
tory  are  but  synonyms  of  courage  and  fidelity — would 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  55 

vie  with  each  other  in  bearing  the  burden  upon  their 
own  shoulders.  At  Camp  Radziminski,  occupied  by 
United  States  forces,  an  ambulance  was  obtained,  and 
the  remainder  of  the  journey  made  with  comparative 
comfort.  Major  Van  Dorn  was  also  conveyed  to 
Radziminski.  He  speedily  recovered  of  his  wound,  and 
soon  made  another  brilliant  campaign  against  the  Co- 
manches,  as  we  shall  see  further  on.  Ross  recovered 
sufficiently  in  a  few  weeks  so  as  to  be  able  to  return  to 
college  at  Florence,  Alabama,  where  he  completed  his 
studies,  and  graduated  in  1859." 

This  was  the  battle  of  the  Wichita  Mountains,  a 
hotly  contested  and  most  desperate  hand  to  hand  fight 
in  which  the  two  gallant  and  dashing  young  officers, 
Ross  and  Van  Dorn,  were  severely  wounded.  The  loss 
of  the  whites  was  five  killed  and  several  wounded. 

The  loss  of  the  Comanches  was,  eighty  or  ninety 
warriors  killed,  many  wounded,  and  several  captured ; 
besides  losing  all  their  horses,  camp  equipage,  sup 
plies,  etc. 

The  return  of  this  victorious  little  army  was  hailed 
with  enthusiastic  rejoicing  and  congratulation,  and  the 
Wichita  fight  and  Van  Dorn  and  Ross  were  the  themes 
of  song  and  story  for  many  years  along  the  borders  and 
in  the  halls  and  banqueting-rooms  of  the  cities,  and  the 
martial  music  of  the  " Wichita  March"  resounded 
through  the  plains  of  Texas  wherever  the  Second 


56  CYNTHIA    ANN    PARKER. 

Cavalry  encamped  or  rocle  off  on  scouts  in  after  years. 

The  little  girl  captive — of  whose  parentage  or  history 
nothing  could  be  ascertained,  though  strenuous  efforts 
were  made — was  christened  " Lizzie  Ross,"  in  honor 
of  MissZzV^VTinsley,  daughter  of  Dr.  D.  R.  Tinsley, 
of  Waco,  to  whom  Ross  at  that  time  was  engaged  ;  and 
afterwards  married — May,  1861. 

Of  Lizzie  Ross,  it  can  be  said  that,  in  her  career,  is 
afforded  a  thorough  verification  of  Lord  Byron's  say 
ing:  " Truth  is  stranger  than  fiction!"  She  was 
adopted  by  her  brave  and  generous  captor,  properly 
reared  and  educated,  and  became  a  beautiful  and  ac 
complished  woman.  Here  were  sufficient  romance  and 
vicissitude,  in  the  brief  career  of  a  little  maiden,  to 
have  turned  the  " roundelay's"  of  " troubadour  and 
meunesauger."  A  solitary  lily,  blooming  amidst  the 
wildest  grasses  of  the  desert  plains.  A  little  Indian 
girl  in  all  save  the  Caucasian's  conscious  stamp  of  su 
periority.  Torn  from  home,  perhaps,  amid  the  heart 
rending  scenes  of  rapine,  torture  and  death.  A  stran 
ger  to  race  and  lineage — stranger  even  to  the  tongue 
in  which  a  mother's  lullaby  was  breathed.  Affiliating 
with  these  wild  Ishmaelites  of  the  prairie — a  Comanche 
in  all  thingss  ave  the  intuitive  premonition  that  she  ivas 
not  of  them!  Finally,  redeemed  from  a  captivity 
worse  than  death  by  a  knight  entitled  to  rank,  for  all 


LIZZIE   Ross 


STORY   OF    HER    CAPTURE.  57 

time  in  the  history  of  Texas,  "primus  inter  -pores" 
Vide  "Ross  Texas  Brigade,"  p.  178. 

Lizzie  Ross  accompanied  Gen.  Ross'  mother  on  a 
visit  to  the  State  of  California,  a  few  years  since,  and 
while  there,  became  the  wife  of  a  wealthy  merchant 
near  Los  Angeles,  where  she  now  resides. 

Such  is  the  romantic  story  of  "  Lizzie  Ross"— a 
story  that  derives  additional  interest  because  of  the  fact 
of  its  absolute  truth  in  all  respects.1 

(1. — The  following  letter  from  Gen.  L.  S.  Ross,  touching  upon  the 
battle  of  the  Wichita  Mountains  and  the  re-capture  of  "Lizzie  Ross,"  is 
here  appropriately  inserted : 

"WACO,  TEXAS,  July  12.  1884. 

"MR.  JAMES  T.  DESHIELDS.  Dear  Sir: — My  father  could  give 
you  reliable  data  enough  to  fill  a  volume.  I  send  you  photograph  of 
Cynthia  Ann  Parker,  with  notes  relating  to  her  on  back  of  photo.  On 
the  28th  of  October,  1858, 1  had  a  battle  with  the  Comauches  at  Wichita 
Mts.,  and  there  recaptured  a  little  white  girl  about  eight  years  old, 
whose  parentage,  nor  indeed  any  trace  of  her  kindred,  was  ever  found. 
I  adopted,  reared,  and  educated  her,  giving  her  the  name  of  Lizzie  Ross; 
the  former  name  being  in  honor  of  the  young  lady — Lizzie  Tinsley— to 
whom  I  was  then  engaged  and  afterwards  married — May,  1861. 

"Lizzie  Ross  grew  to  womanhood,  and  married  a  wealthy  merchant 
living  near  Los  Angeles,  California,  where  she  now  resides.  See  History 
of  'Ross'  Brigade'  by  Victor  M.  Rose,  and  published  by  Courier-Jour 
nal,  for  a  full  and  graphic  description  of  the  battle  and  other  notable  in 
cidents.  I  could  give  you  many  interesting  as  well  as  thrilling  adven 
tures  of  self  and  father's  family  with  the  Indians  in  the  early  settlement 
of  the  country. 

"He  can  give  you  more  information  than  any  living  Texian,  touch 
ing  the  Indian  character,  having  been  their  agent  and  warm  and  trusted 
friend,  in  whom  they  had  confidence. 

"My  early  life  was  one  of  constant  danger  from  their  forays,  and  I 
was  twice  in  their  hands  and  at  their  mercy,  as  well  as  the  other  mem 
bers  of  my  father's  family. 

"But I  am  just  now  too  busy  with  my  farm  matters  to  give  you  such 
data  as  would  subserve  your  purpose. 

-Yours  truly,  L.  S.  Ross." 


58  CYNTHIA    ANN   PARKER. 

CHAPTER  V. 
Battle  of  Pease  River.— Cynthia  Ann  Parker. 

For  some  time  after  Ross'  victory  at  the  Wichita 
Mountains  the  Comanches  were  less  hostile,  seldom 
penetrating  far  down  into  the  settlements.  But  in 
1 85 9-' 60  the  condition  of  the  frontier  was  again  truly 
deplorable.  The  people  were  obliged  to  stand  in  a  con 
tinued  posture  of  defense,  and  were  in  continual  alarm 
and  hazard  of  their  lives,  never  daring  to  stir  abroad 
unarmed,  for  small  bodies  of  savages,  quick-sighted 
and  accustomed  to  perpetual  watchfulness,  hovered  on 
the  outskirts,  and  springing  from  behind  bush  or  rock, 
surprised  his  enemy  before  he  was  aware  of  danger, 
and  sent  tidings  of  his  presence  in  the  fatal  blow,  and 
after  execution  of  the  bloody  work,  by  superior  knowl 
edge  of  the  country  and  rapid  movements,  safely  re 
tired  to  their  inaccessable  deserts. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1860  the  indomitable  and  fearless 
Peta  Nocona  led  a  raiding  party  of  Comanches 
through  Parker  county,  so  named  in  honor  of  the  fam 
ily  of  his  wife,  Cynthia  Ann,  committing  great  depre 
dations  as  they  passed  through.  The  venerable  Isaac 
Parker  was  at  the  time  a  resident  of  the  town  of 
Weatherford,  the  county  seat ;  and  little  did  he  imag 
ine  that  the  chief  of  the  ruthless  savages  who  spread 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  59 

desolation  and  death  on  every  side  as  far  as  their  arms 
could  reach ,  was  the  husband  of  his  long  lost  niece  • 
and  that  the  comingled  blood  of  the  murdered  Parkers 
and  the  atrocious  Comanche  now  coursed  in  the  veins 
of  a  second  generation — bound  equally  by  the  ties  of 
consanguinity  to  murderer  and  murdered ;  that  the  son 
of  Peta  Nocona  and  Cynthia  Ann  Parker  would  be 
come  the  chief  of  the  proud  Comanches,  whose  boast 
it  is  that  their  constitutional  settlement  of  government 
is  the  purest  democracy  ever  originated  and  adminis 
tered  among  men.  It  certainly  conserved  the  object  of 
its  institution — the  protection  and  happiness  of  the  peo 
pie — for  a  longer  period,  and  much  more  satisfactorily 
than  has  that  of  any  other  Indian  tribe.  The  Co 
manches  claimed  a  superiority  over  the  other  Texian 
tribes  •  and  they  unquestionably  were  more  intelligent 
and  courageous.  The  "Reservation  Policy," — neces- 
essary  though  it  be — brings  them  all  to  an  object  level, 
—the  plane  of  lazy  beggars  and  thieves.  The  Co 
manche  is  the  most  qualified  by  nature  for  receiving 
education  and  for  adapting  himself  to  the  requirements 
of  civilization,  of  all  the  southern  tribes,  not  excepting 
even  the  Cherokees,  with  their  churches,  school-houses 
and  farms.  The  Comanches  after  waging  an  unceasing 
war  for  nearly  fifty  years  against  the  United  States, 
Texas  and  Mexico,  still  number  16,000  souls*  a  far 
better  showing  than  any  other  tribe  can  make,  though 


60  CYNTHIA    ANN    PARKER. 

not  one  but  has  enjoyed  privileges  to  which  the  Co- 
manche  was  a  stranger.  It  is  a  shame  to  the  civiliza 
tion  of  the  age  that  a  people  so  susceptible  of  a  high 
degree  of  development  should  be  allowed  to  grovel  in 
the  depths  of  heathenism  and  savagery.  But  we  are 
digressing. 

The  loud  and  clamorous  cries  of  the  settlers  along 
the  frontier  for  protection,  induced  the  Government  to 
organize  and  send  out  a  regiment  under  Col.  M.  T. 
Johnson  to  take  the  field  for  public  defense.  But  these 
efforts  proved  of  small  service.  The  expedition, 
though  at  great  expense  to  the  state,  failed  to  find  an 
Indian  until  returning,  the  command  was  followed  by 
the  wily  Comanches,  their  horses  "stampeded"  at 
night  and  most  of  the  men  compelled  to  reach  the  settle 
ments  on  foot,  under  great  suffering  and  exposure. 

Captain  "Sul"  Ross,  who  had  just  graduated  from 
Florence  Wesleyan  University,  of  Alabama,  and  re 
turned  to  Texas,  was  commissioned  a  captain  of  rang 
ers,  by  Governor  Sam  Houston,  and  directed  to  organ 
ize  a  company  of  sixty  men,  with  orders  to  repair  to 
Fort  Belknap,  receive  from  Col.  Johnson  all  govern 
ment  property,  as  his  regiment  was  disbanded,  and 
take  the  field  against  the  redoubtable  Peta  Nocona,  and 
afford  the  frontier  such  protection  as  was  possible  to 
this  small  force.  The  necessity  of  vigorous  measures 
soon  became  so  pressing  that  Capt.  Ross  determined  to 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  61 

attempt  to  curb  the  insolence  of  these  implacable 
enemies  of  Texas  by  following  them  into  their  fast 
nesses  and  carry  the  war  into  their  own  homes.  In 
his  graphic  narration  of  this  campaign  Gen.  L.  S.  Ross 
says  :  ' ' As  I  could  take  but  forty  of  my  men  from  my 
post,  I  requested  Capt.  N.  G.  Evans,  in  command  of 
the  United  States  troops,  at  Camp  Cooper,  to  send  me 
a  detachment  of  the  Second  Cavalry.  We  had  been 
intimately  connected  on  the  Van  Dorn  campaign,  dur 
ing  which  I  was  the  recipient  of  much  kindness  from 
Capt.  Evans  while  I  was  suffering  from  a  severe 
wound  received  from  an  Indian  in  the  battle  of  the 
' Wichita.'  He  promptly  sent  me  a  sergeant  and  twen 
ty  well  mounted  men.  My  force  was  still  further  aug 
mented  by  some  seventy  volunteer  citizens  under 
command  of  the  brave  old  frontiersman,  Capt.  Jack 
Cureton,  of  Bosque  county.  These  self-sacrificing  pa 
triots,  without  the  hope  of  pay  or  reward,  left  their  de- 
defenseless  homes  and  families  to  avenge  the  sufferings 
of  the  frontier  people.  With  pack-mules  laden  down 
with  necessary  supplies  the  expedition  marched  for  the 
Indian  country. 

"On  the  1 8th  of  December,  1860,  while  march 
ing  up  Pease  river,  I  had  some  suspicions  that  Indians 
were  in  the  vicinity,  by  reason  of  the  buffalo  that  came 
running  in  great  numbers  from  the  north  towards  us, 
and  while  my  command  moved  in  the  low  ground  I 


62  CYNTHIA    ANN   PARKER. 

visited  all  neighboring  high  points  to  make  discoveries. 
On  one  of  these  sand  hills  I  found  four  fresh  pony 
tracks,  and  being  satisfied  that  Indian  videtts  had  just 
gone,  I  galloped  forward  about  a  mile  to  a  higher  point, 
and  riding  to  the  top,  to  my  inexpressable  surprise, 
found  myself  within  200  yards  of  a  Comanche  village, 
located  on  a  small  stream  winding  around  the  base  of 
the  hill.  It  was  a  most  happy  circumstance  that  a 
piercing  north  wind  was  blowing,  bearing  with  it 
clouds  of  sand,  and  my  presence  was  unobserved  and 
the  surprise  complete.  By  signaling  my  men  as  I 
stood  concealed,  they  reached  me  without  being  dis 
covered  by  the  Indians,  who  were  busy  packing  up  pre 
paratory  to  a  move.  By  this  time  the  Indians  mounted 
and  moved  off  north  across  the  level  plain.  My  com 
mand,  with  the  detachment  of  the  Second  Cavalry, 
had  out-marched  and  become  separated  from  the  citi 
zen  command,  which  left  me  about  sixty  men.  In 
making  disposition  for  attack,  the  sergeant  and  his 
twenty  men  were  sent  at  a  gallop,  behind  a  chain  of 
sand  hills,  to  encompass  them  in  and  cut  off  their  re 
treat,  while  with  forty  men  I  charged.  The  attack  was 
so  sudden  that  a  considerable  number  were  killed  be 
fore  they  could  prepare  for  defense.  They  fled  precipi 
tately  right  into  the  presence  of  the  sergeant  and  his 
men.  Here  they  met  with  a  warm  reception,  and 
finding  themselves  completely  encompassed,  every  one 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  63 

fled    his   own  way,  and  was  hotly  pursued  and  hard 
pressed. 

"The  chief  of  the  party,  Peta  Nocona,  a  noted  war 
rior  of  great  repute,  with  a  young  girl  about  fifteen 
years  of  age  mounted  on  his  horse  behind  him,  and 
Cynthia  Ann  Parker,  with  a  girl  child  about  two  years 
of  age  in  her  arms  and  mounted  on  a  fleet  pony,  fled 
together,  while  Lieut.  Tom.  Kelliheir  and  I  pursued 
them.  After  running  about  a  mile  Killiheir  ran  up  by 
the  side  of  Cynthia's  horse,  and  I  was  in  the  act  of 
shooting  when  she  held  up  her  child  and  stopped.  I 
kept  on  after  the  chief  and  about  a  half  a  mile  further, 
when  in  about  twenty  yards  of  him  I  fired  my  pistol, 
striking  the  girl  (whom  I  supposed  to  be  a  man,  as  she 
rode  like  one,  and  only  her  head  was  visible  above  the 
buffalo  robe  with  which  she  was  wrapped)  near  the 
heart,  killing  her  instantly,  and  the  same  ball  would 
have  killed  both  but  for  the  shield  of  the  chief, 
which  hung  down,  covering  his  back.  When  the  girl 
fell  from  the  horse  she  pulled  him  off  also,  but  he 
caught  on  his  feet,  and  before  steadying  himself,  my 
horse,  running  at  full  speed,  was  very  nearly  upon  top 
of  him,  when  he  was  struck  with  an  arrow,  which 
caused  him  to  fall  to  pitching  or  'bucking,'  and  it  was 
with  great  difficulty  that  I  kept  my  saddle,  and  in  the 
meantime,  narrowly  escaped  several  arrows  coming  in 
quick  succession  from  the  chief's  bow.  Being  at  such 


64  CYNTHIA    ANN    PARKER. 

disadvantage  he  would  have  killed  me  in  a  few  minutes 
but  for  a  random  shot  from  my  pistol  (while  I  was 
clinging  with  my  left  hand  to  the  pommel  of  my  sad 
dle)  which  broke  his  right  arm  at  the  elbow,  complete 
ly  disabling  him.  My  horse  then  became  quiet,  and  I 
shot  the  chief  twice  through  the  body,  whereupon  he 
deliberately  walked  to  a  small  tree,  the  only  one  in 
sight,  and  leaning  against  it,  began  to  sing  a  wild, 
wierd  song.  At  this  time  my  Mexican  servant,  who 
had  once  been  a  captive  with  the  Comanches  and  spoke 
their  language  as  fluently  as  his  mother  tongue,  came 
up,  in  company  with  two  of  my  men.  I  then  sum 
moned  the  chief  to  surrender,  but  he  promptly  treated 
every  overture  with  contempt,  and  signalized  this  dec 
laration  with  a  savage  attempt  to  thrust  me  with  the 
lance  which  he  held  in  his  left  hand.  I  could  only 
look  upon  him  with  pity  and  admiration.  For,  de 
plorable  as  was  his  situation,  with  no  chance  of  escape, 
his  party  utterly  destroyed,  his  wife  and  child  captured 
in  his  sight,  he  was  undaunted  by  the  fate  that  awaited 
him,  and  as  he  seemed  to  prefer  death  to  life,  I  direct 
ed  the  Mexican  to  end  his  misery  by  a  charge  of  buck 
shot  from  the  gun  which  he  carried.  Taking  up  his 
accouterments,  which  I  subsequently  sent  Gov.  Hous 
ton,  to  be  deposited  in  the  archives  at  Austin,  we  rode 
back  to  Cynthia  Ann  and  Killiheir,  and  found  him  bit 
terly  cursing  himself  for  having  run  his  pet  horse  so 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  65 

hard  after  an  'old  squaw.'  She  was  very  dirty,  both 
in  her  scanty  garments  and  her  person.  But  as  soon 
as  I  looked  on  her  face,  I  said,  'Why,  Tom,  this  is  a 
white  woman,  Indians  do  not  have  blue  eyes.'  On  the 
way  to  the  village,  where  my  men  were  assembling 
with  the  spoils,  and  a  large  caballado  of  'Indian 
ponies,'  I  discovered  an  Indian  boy  about  nine  years  of 
age,  secreted  in  the  grass.  Expecting  to  be  killed,  he 
began  crying,  but  I  made  him  mount  behind  me,  and 
carried  him  along.  And  when  in  after  years  I  frequent 
ly  proposed  to  send  him  to  his  people,  he  steadfastly  re 
fused  to  go,  and  died  in  McLennan  county  last  year. 
"After  camping  for  the  night  Cynthia  Ann  kept  cry 
ing,  and  thinking  it  was  caused  from  fear  of  death  at 
our  hands,  I  had  the  Mexican  tell  her  that  we  recog 
nized  her  as  one  of  our  own  people,  and  would  not 
harm  her.  She  said  two  of  her  boys  were  with  her 
when  the  fight  began,  and  she  was  distressed  by  the 
fear  that  they  had  been  killed.  It  so  happened,  how 
ever,  both  escaped,  and  one  of  them,  'Quanah'  is  now 
a  chief.  The  other  died  some  years  ago  on  the  plains. 
I  then  asked  her  to  give  me  the  history  of  her  life  with 
the  Indians,  and  the  circumstances  attending  her  cap 
ture  by  them,  which  she  promptly  did  in  a  very  sensi 
ble  manner.  And  as  the  facts  detailed  corresponded 
with  the  massacre  at  Parker's  Fort,  I  was  impressed 


66  CYNTHIA    ANN    PARKER. 

with  the  belief  that  she  was  Cynthia  Ann  Parker.  Re 
turning  to  my  post,  I  sent  her  and  child  to  the  ladies  at 
Cooper,  where  she  could  recieve  the  attention  her  situa 
tion  demanded,  and  at  the  same  time  dispatched  a 
messenger  to  Col.  Parker,  her  uncle,  near  Weather- 
ford,  and  as  I  was  called  to  Waco  to  meet  Gov.  Hous 
ton,  I  left  directions  for  the  Mexican  to  accompany  Col. 
Parker  to  Cooper  in  the  capacity  of  interpreter.  When 
he  reached  there,  her  identity  was  soon  discovered  to 
Col.  Parker's  entire  satisfaction  and  great  happiness." 

And  thus  was  fought  the  battle  of  "  Pease  river"  be 
tween  a  superior  force  of  Comanches  under  the  implac 
able  chief,  Peta  Nocona  on  one  side,  and  sixty  rangers 
led  by  their  youthful  commander,  Capt.  L.  S.  Ross,  on 
the  other.  Ross,  sword  in  hand,  led  the  furious  rush 
of  the  rangers  ;  and  in  the  desperate  encounter  of  "war 
to  the  knife"  which  ensued,  nearly  all  the  warriors  bit 
the  dust. 

So  signal  a  victory  had  never  before  been  gained  over 
the  fierce  and  war-like  Comanches  •  and  never  since 
that  fatal  December  clay  in  1860  have  they  made  any 
military  demonstrations  at  all  commensurate  with  the 
fame  of  their  proud  campaigns  in  the  past.  The  great 
Comanche  confederacy  was  forever  broken.  The  in 
cessant  and  sanguinary  war  which  had  been  waged  for 
more  than  thirty  years  was  now  virtually  at  an  end. 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  67 

The  blow  was  a  most  decisive  one  ;  as  sudden  and  irre- 
sistable  as  a  thunder-bolt,  and  as  remorseless  and  crush 
ing  as  the  hand  of  Fate. 

It  was  a  short  but  desperate  conflict.  Victory  trem 
bled  in  the  balance.  A  determined  charge,  accompan 
ied  by  a  simultaneous  fire  from  the  solid  phalanx  of 
yelling  rangers  and  the  Comanches  beat  a  hasty  retreat, 
leaving  many  dead  and  wounded  upon  the  field.  Es 
pying  the  chief  and  a  chosen  few  riding  at  full  speed, 
and  in  a  different  direction  from  the  other  fugitives, 
from  the  ill-starred  field,  Ross  quickly  pursued.  Divin 
ing  his  purpose,  the  watchful  Pete  Nocona  rode  at  full 
speed,  but  was  soon  overtaken,  when  the  two  chiefs 
engaged  in  a  personal  encounter,  which  must  result  in 
the  death  of  one  or  the  other.  Peta  Nocona  fell,  and 
his  last  sigh  was  taken  up  in  mournful  wailings  on  the 
wings  of  defeat.  Most  of  the  women  and  children 
with  a  few  warriors  escaped.  Many  of  these  perished 
on  the  cold  and  inhospitable  plains,  in  an  effort  to  reach 
their  friends  on  the  head-waters  of  the  Arkansas  river. 

The  immediate  fruits  of  the  victory  was  some  four 
hundred  and  fifty  horses,  and  their  accumulated  win 
ter's  supply  of  food.  But  the  incidental  fruits  are  not 
to  be  computed  on  the  basis  of  dollars  and  cents.  The 
proud  spirit  of  the  Comanche  was  here  broloen,  and  to 
this  signal  defeat  is  to  be  attributed  the  measurably  pa 
cific  conduct  of  these  heretofore  implacable  foes  of  the 


68  CYNTHIA    ANN   PARKER. 

white  race  during  the  course  of  the  late  civil  war  in  the 
Union, — a  boon  of  incalculable  value  to  Texas. 

In  a  letter  recognizing  the  great  service  rendered  the 
state  by  Ross  in  dealing  the  Comanches  this  crushing 
blow,  Governor  Houston  said : 

"Your  success  in  protecting  the  frontier  gives  me 
great  satisfaction.  I  am  satisfied  that  with  the  same 
opportunities,  you  would  rival,  if  not  excel,  the  great 
est  exploits  of  McCulloch  and  Hays.  Continue  to  re 
pel,  pursue,  and  punish  every  body  of  Indians  coming 
into  the  State,  and  the  people  will  not  withhold  their 
praise."  Signed:  SAM  HOUSTON. 


QUANAH  PARKER. 


STORY   OF    HER    CAPTURE.  69 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Cynthia  Ann  Parker.— Quanah  Parker. 

From  May  I9th,  1836,  to  December  i8th,  1860, 
was  twenty-four  years  and  seven  months.  Add  to  this 
nine  years,  her  age  when  captured,  and  at  the  later 
date  Cynthia  Ann  Parker  was  in  her  thirty-fourth 
year.  During  the  last  ten  years  of  this  quarter  of  a 
century,  which  she  spent  as  a  captive  among  the  Co- 
manches,  no  tidings  had  been  received  of  her.  She 
had  long  been  given  up  as  dead  or  irretrievably  lost  to 
civilization. 

Notwithstanding  the  long  lapse  of  time  which  had 
intervened  since  the  Capture  of  Cynthia  Ann  Parker, 
Ross,  as  he  interrogated  his  "blue  eyed"  but  bronzed 
captive,  more  than  suspected  that  she  was  the  veritable 
" Cynthia  Ann  Parker,"  of  which  he  had  heard  so 
much  from  his  boyhood.  She  was  dressed  in  female 
attire,  of  course,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  Co- 
manches,  which  being  very  similar  to  that  of  the  males, 
doubtless,  gave  rise  to  the  eroneous  statement  that  she 
was  dressed  in  male  costume.  So  sure  was  Ross  of  her 
identity  that,  as  before  stated,  he  at  once  dispatched  a 
messenger  to  her  uncle,  the  venerable  Isaac  Parker ;  in 
the  meantime  placing  Cynthia  Ann  in  charge  of  Mrs. 


70  CYNTHIA    ANN   PARKER. 

Evans,  wife  of  Capt.  N.  G.  Evans,  the  commandant 
at  Fort  Cooper,  who  at  once,  with  commendable  be 
nevolence,  administered  to  her  necessities. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  Col.  Parker  at  Fort  Cooper,  in 
terrogations  were  made  her  through  the  Mexican  inter 
preter,  for  she  remembered  not  one  word  of  English, 
respecting  her  identity ;  but  she  had  forgotten  absolute 
ly  everything,  apparently,  at  all  connected  with  her 
family  or  past  history. 

In  dispair  of  being  able  to  reach  a  conclusion,  Col. 
Parker  was  about  to  leave,  when  he  said,  "The  name 
of  my  niece  was  Cynthia  Ann."  The  sound  of  the 
once  familiar  name,  doubtless  the  last  lingering  me 
mento  of  the  old  home  at  the  fort,  seemed  to  touch  a 
responsive  chord  in  her  nature,  when  a  sign  of  intelli 
gence  lighted  up  her  countenance,  as  memory  by  some 
mystic  inspiration  resumed  its  cunning  as  she  looked 
up,  and  patting  her  breast,  said,  " Cynthia  Ann  !  Cyn 
thia  Ann  I"  At  the  awakening  of  this  single  spark  of 
reminiscence,  the  sole  gleam  in  the  mental  gloom  of 
many  years,  her  countenance  brightened  with  a  pleas 
ant  smile  in  place  of  the  sullen  expression  which  ha 
bitually  characterizes  the  looks  of  an  Indian  restrained 
of  freedom.  There  was  now  no  longer  any  doubt  as 
to  her  identity  with  the  little  girl  lost  and  mourned  so 
long.  It  was  in  reality  Cynthia  Ann  Parker, — but,  O, 
so  changed ! 


STORY   OF    HER    CAPTURE.  71 

But  as  savage-like  and  dark  of  complexion  as  she 
was,  Cynthia  Ann  was  still  dear  to  her  overjoyed  uncle, 
and  was  welcomed  home  by  relatives  with  all  the  joy 
ous  transports  with  which  the  prodigal  son  was  hailed 
upon  his  miserable  return  to  the  parental  roof. 

As  thorough  an  Indian  in  manner  and  looks  as  if 
she  had  been  so  born,  she  sought  every  opportunity  to 
escape,  and  had  to  be  closely  watched  for  some  time. 
Her  uncle  carried  herself  and  child  to  his  home,  then 
took  them  to  Austin,  where  the  secession  convention 
was  in  session.  Mrs.  John  Henry  Brown  and  Mrs. 
N.  C.  Raymond  interested  themselves  in  her,  dressed 
her  neatly,  and  on  one  occasion  took  her  into  the  gal 
lery  of  the  hall  while  the  convention  was  in  session. 
They  soon  realized  that  she  was  greatly  alarmed  by  the 
belief  that  the  assemblage  was  a  council  of  chiefs,  sit 
ting  in  judgment  on  her  life.  Mrs.  Brown  beckoned 
to  her  husband,  Hon.  John  Henry  Brown,  who  was  a 
member  of  the  convention,  who  appeared  and  succeed 
ed  in  reassuring  her  that  she  was  among  friends. 

Gradually  her  mother  tongue  came  back,  and  with 
it  occasional  incidents  of  her  childhood,  including  a 
recognition  of  the  venerable  Mr.  Anglin,  and  perhaps 
one  or  two  others. 

The  civil  war  coming  on  soon  after,  which  necessi 
tated  the  resumption -of  such  primitive  arts,  she  learned 
to  spin,  weave  and  to  perform  the  domestic  duties. 


72  CYNTHIA   ANN   PARKER. 

She  proved  quite  an  adept  in  such  work,  and  became  a 
very  useful  member  of  the  household. 

The  ruling  passion  of  her  bosom  seemed  to  be  the 
maternal  instinct,  and  she  cherished  the  hope  that  when 
the  war  was  concluded  she  would  at  last  succeed  in  re 
claiming  her  two  children  who  were  still  with  the  In 
dians.  But  it  was  written  otherwise,  and  Cynthia  Ann 
and  her  little  ' 'barbarian"  were  called  hence  ere  "the 
cruel  war  was  over."  She  died  at  her  brother's  in 
Anderson  county,  Texas,  in  1864,  preceded  a  short 
time  by  her  sprightly  little  daughter,  " Prairie  Flower." 

Thus  ended  the  sad  story  of  a  woman  far  famed 
along  the  border. 

###•&#### 

How  fared  it  with  the  two  young  orphans  we  may 
only  imagine.  The  lot  of  these  helpless  ones  is  too 
often  one  of  trials,  heart-pangs,  and  want,  even  among 
our  enlightened  people  ;  and  it  would  require  a  painful 
recital  to  follow  the  children  of  Peta  Nocona  and  Cyn 
thia  Ann  Parker  from  the  terrible  fight  on  Pease  river, 
across  trackless  prairies,  and  rugged  mountain-ways,  in 
the  inhospitable  month  of  December,  tired,  hungry, 
and  carrying  a  load  upon  their  hearts  far  heavier  than 
the  physical  evils  which  so  harshly  beset  them.  Their 
father  was  slain,  and  their  mother  a  captive.  Doubt 
less  they  were  as  intent  upon  her  future  recovery,  dur 
ing  the  many  years  in  which  they  shared  the  vicissi- 


STORY   OF    HER    CAPTURE.  73 

tudes  of  their  people,  until  the  announcement  of  her 
death  reached  them,  as  her  own  family  had  been  for 
her  rescue  during  her  quarter  of  a  century  of  captivity. 
One  of  the  little  sons  of  Cynthia  Ann  died  some  years 
after  her  recapture.  The  other,  now  known  as  Capt. 
Quanah  Parker,  born  as  he  says  in  1854,  is  the  chief  of 
Comanches,  on  their  reservation  in  the  Indian  Terri 
tory,  eencroft  LibrgJ 

Finally,  in  1874,  the  Comanches  were  forced  upon 
a  "reservation,"  near  Fort  Sill,  to  lead  the  beggarly 
life  of  "hooded  harlots  and  blanketed  thieves,"  and  it 
was  at  this  place  that  the  "war-chief"  Quanah,  learned 
that  it  was  possible  he  might  secure  a  photograph  of 
his  mother.1 

An  advertisement  to  that  effect  was  inserted  in  the 
Fort  Worth  Gazette,  when  General  Ross  at  once  for 
warded  him  a  copy.  To  his  untutored  mind  it  seemed 
that  a  miracle  had  been  wrought  in  response  to  his 
"paper  prayer*"  and  his  exclamations,  as  he  gazed  in 
tently  and  long  upon  the  faithful  representation  of 
"Preloch,"  or  Cynthia  Ann,  were  highly  suggestive  of 
Cowper's  lines  on  his  mother's  picture  5  and  we  take 

(1— Mr.  A.  F.  Corning  was  at  Fort  Worth  in  1862,  when  Cynthia 
Ann  Parker  passed  through  there.  He  (Mr.  C.)  prevailed  on  her  to  go 
with  him  to  a  daguerreotype  gallery  (there  were  no  photographs  then) 
and  have  her  picture  taken.  Mr.  Corning  still  has  this  daguerreotype, 
and  says  it  is  an  excellent  likeness  of  the  woman  as  she  looked  then.  It 
is  now  at  the  Academy  of  Art,  Waco,  and  several  photographs  have  been 
taken  from  it,  one  of  which  was  sent  to  Quanah  Parker,  and  another  to 
the  writer,  from  which  the  frontispiece  to  this  work  was  engraved. 


74  CYNTHIA   ANN    PARKER . 

the  liberty  of  briefly  presenting  a  portion  of  the  same 
in  verse : 

My  mother !  and  do  my  weeping  eyes  once  more — 
Half  doubting — scan  thy  cherished  features  o'er? 

Yes,  'tis  the  pictured  likeness  of  my  dead  mother, 
How  true  to  life !     It  seems  to  breathe  and  move  ; 

Fire,  love,  and  sweetness  o'er  each  feature  melt ; 
The  face  expresses  all  the  spirit  felt ; 

Here,  while  I  gaze  within  those  large,  dark  eyes, 
I  almost  see  the  living  spirit  rise ; 

While  lights  and  shadows,  all  harmonious,  glow, 
And  heavenly  radiance  settles  on  that  brow. 

What  is  the  "medicine"  I  must  not  know, 
Which  thus  can  give  to  death  life's  bloom  and  glow. 

O,  could  the  white  man's  magic  art  but  give 
As  well  the  happy  power,  and  bid  her  live ! 

My  name,  me  thinks,  would  be  the  first  to  break 
The  seal  of  silence,  on  those  lips,  and  wake 

Once  more  the  smile  that  charmed  her  gentle  face, 
As  she  was  wont  to  fold  me  in  her  warm  embrace. 

Yes,  it  is  she,  "Preloch,"  Nocona's  pale-faced  bride, 
Who  rode,  a  matchless  princess,  at  his  side, 

'Neath  many  a  bloody  moon  afar, 
O'er  tortuous  paths  devoted  alone  to  war. 

Long  since  she's  joined  him  on  that  blissful  shore,— 
Where  parting  and  heart-breakings  are  no  more, — 

And  since  our  star  with  him  went  down  in  gloom, 
No  more  to  shine  above  the  blighting  doom, 

'Neath  which  my  people's  hopes,  alas,  are  fled, 
I,  too,  but  long  that  silent  path  to  tread, — 

A  child,  to  be  with  her  and  him  again, 
Healed  every  wound  an  orphan's  heart  can  pain ! 


STOEY   OF    HER    CAPTURE.  75 

Quanah  Parker  is  a  Nocone,  which  means  wanderer, 
but  on  the  capture  of  his  mother,  Preloch,  and  death 
of  his  father,  Quanah  was  adopted  and  cared  for  by  the 
Cohoites,  and  when  just  arrived  at  manhood,  was 
made  chief  by  his  benefactors  on  account  of  his  brav 
ery.  His  name  before  he  became  a  chief  was  Cepe. 
He  has  lived  among  several  tribes  of  the  Comanches. 
He  was  at  one  time  with  the  Cochetaker,  or  Buffalo 
Eaters,  and  was  the  most  influential  chief  of  the  Pena- 
takers.  Quanah  is  at  present  one  of  the  four  chiefs  of 
the  Cohoites,  who  each  have  as  many  people  as  he  has. 
The  Cohoite  Comanches  were  never  on  a  reservation 
until  1874,  but  are  to-day  further  advanced  in  civiliza 
tion  than  any  Indians  on  the  "Comanche  reservation." 
Quanah  speaks  English,  is  considerably  advanced  in 
civilization,  and  owns  a  ranche  with  considerable  live 
stock  and  a  small  farm  ;  wears  a  citizen's  suit,  and  con 
forms  to  the  customs  of  civilization — withal  a  fine-look 
ing  and  dignified  son  of  the  plains.  In  1-884,  Quanah, 
in  company  with  two  other  prominent  Comanche 
chiefs,  visited  Mexico.  In  reporting  their  passage 
through  that  city,  the  San  Antonio  Light  thus  speaks 
of  them : 

"They  bear  relationship  to  each  other  of  chief  and  two  subor 
dinates.  Quanah  Parker  is  the  chief,  and  as  he  speaks  very  good 
English,  they  will  visit  the  City  of  Mexico  before  they  return. 
They  came  from  Kiowa,  Comanche  and  Wichita  Indian  Agency, 


76  CYNTHIA   ANN   PARKER. 

and  Parker  bears  a  paper  from  Indian  Agent  Hunt  that  he,  Park 
er,  is  a  son  of  Cynthia  Ann  Parker,  and  is  one  of  the  most  promi 
nent  chiefs  of  the  half-breed  Comanche  tribe.  He  is  also  a  suc 
cessful  stock  man  and  farmer.  He  wears  a  citizen's  suit  of  black, 
neatly  fitting,  regular  "tooth-pick"  dude  shoes,  a  watch  and  gold 
chain  and  black  felt  hat.  The  only  peculiar  item  in  his  appear 
ance  is  his  long  hair,  which  he  wears  in  two  plaits  down  his  back. 
His  two  braves  also  wear  civilization's  garb.  But  wear  heavy 
boots,  into  which  their  trousers  are  thrust  in  true  western  fashion. 
They  speak  nothing  but  their  native  language." 

In  1885  Quanah  Parker  visited  the  World's  Fair  at 
New  Orleans. 

The  following  extract  from  the  Fort  Worth  Gazette, 
is  a  recent  incident  in  his  career : 

"HE  BLEW  OUT  THE  GAS" 


AND  ON  THAT  BREATH  THE  SOUL  OF  YELLOW  BEAR 
FLEW  TO  ITS  HAPPY  HUNTING  GROUNDS. 


Another  Instance  in  Which  the  Noble  Red  Man  Suc 
cumbs  to  the  Influence  of  Civilization! 


"A  sensation  was  created  on  the  streets  yesterday  by 
the  news  of  a  tragedy  from  asphyxiation  at  the  Pickwick 
hotel,  of  which  two  noted  Indians,  Quanah  Parker  and 
Yellow  Bear,  were  the  victims. 

"The  circumstances  of  the  unfortunate  affair  were 
very  difficult  to  obtain  because  of  the  inability  of  the 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  77 

only  two  men  who  were  possessed  of  definite  infor 
mation  on  the  subject  to  reveal  it — one  on  account  of 
death,  and  the  other  from  unconsciousness.  The  In 
dians  arrived  here  yesterday  from  the  Territory,  on  the 
Fort  Worth  &  Denver  incoming  train.  They  register 
ed  at  the  Pickwick  and  were  asigned  an  apartment  to 
gether  in  the  second  story  of  the  building. 
Very  little  is  known  of  their  subsequent  movements, 
but  from  the  best  evidence  that  can  be  collected  it  ap 
pears  that  Yellow  Bear  retired  alone  about  10  o'clock, 
and  that  in  his  utter  ignorance  of  modern  appliances,  he 
blew  out  the  gas.  Parker,  it  is  believed,  did  not  seek 
his  room  until  2  or  3  o'clock  in  the  morn-ing,  when,  not 
detecting  from  some  cause  the  presence  of  gas  in  the 
atmosphere,  or  not  locating  its  origin  in  the  room,  he 
shut  the  door  and  scrambled  into  bed,  unmindful  of 
the  deadly  forces  which  were  even  then  operating  so 
disastrously. 

"The  failure  of  the  two  Indians  to  appear  at  breakfast 
or  dinner  caused  the  hotel  clerk  to  send  a  man  around 
to  awake  them.  He  found  the  door  locked  and  was 
unable  to  get  a  response  from  the  inmates.  The  room 
was  then  forceably  entered,  and  as  the  door  swung  back 
the  rush  of  the  deathly  perfume  through  the  aperture 
told  the  story.  A  gastly  spectacle  met  the  eyes  of  the 
hotel  employes.  By  the  bedside  in  a  crouched  posi 
tion,  with  his  face  pressed  to  the  floor,  was  Yellow 


78  CYNTHIA   ANN   PARKER. 

Bear,  in  the  half-nude  condition  which  Indian  fashion 
in  night  clothes  admits.  In  the  opposite  corner  near 
the  window,  which  was  closed,  Parker  was  stretched 
at  full  length  upon  his  back.  Yellow  Bear  was  stone 
dead,  while  the  quick  gasps  of  his  companion  indicated 
that  he  was  in  but  a  stone's  throw  of  eternity.  The 
chief  was  removed  to  the  bed,  and  through  the  untiring 
efforts  of  Drs.  Beall  and  Moore  his  life  has  been  saved. 

"Finding  Quanah  sufficiently  able  to  converse,  the 
reporter  of  the  Gazette  questioned  him  as  to  the  cause 
of  the  unhappy  occurrence,  and  elicited  the  following 
facts : 

"  'I  came,'  said  the  chief,  'into  the  room  about  mid 
night,  and  found  Yellow  Bear  in  bed.  I  lit  the  gas 
myself.  I  smelt  no  gas  when  I  came  into  the  room. 
When  I  went  to  bed  I  turned  the  gas  off.  I  did  not 
blow  it  out.  After  a  while  I  smelt  the  gas,  but  went 
to  sleep.  I  woke  up  and  shook  Yellow  Bear  and  told 
him  'I'm  mighty  sick  and  hurting  all  over.'  Yellow 
Bear  says,  'I'm  mighty  sick,  too.'  I  got  up,  and  fell 
down  and  all  around  the  room,  and  that's  all  I  know 
about  it.' 

"  'Why  didn't  you  open  the  door?'  asked  the  re 
porter. 

"  'I  was  too  crazy  to  know  anything,'  replied  the 
chief,  *  *  *  *  * 


STORY    OF    HER    CAPTURE.  79 

"It  is  indeed,  a  source  of  congratulation  that  the 
chief  will  recover,  as  otherwise  his  tribe  could  not  be 
made  to  understand  the  occurrence,  and  results  detri 
mental  to  those  having  interests  in  the  Territory  would 
inevitably  follow.  '  ' 

The  new  town  of  Quanah,  in  Hardeman  county, 
Texas,  was  named  in  honor  of  chief  Quanah  Parker. 

We  will  now  conclude  our  little  work  by  appending 
the  following  letter,  which  gives  a  true  pen  portrait  of 
the  celebrated  chief  as  he  appears  at  his  home  on  the 
"reservation  :" 

"ANADARKO,  I.  T.,  Feb.  4,  1886. 


"We  visited  Quanah  in  his  teepe.  He  is  a  fine 
specimen  of  physical  manhood,  tall,  muscular  —  as 
straight  as  an  arrow  ;  gray,  look-you-straight-through- 
the-eyes,  very  dark  skin,  perfect  teeth,  and  a  heavy, 
raven-black  hair  —  the  envy  of  feminine  hearts  —  he 
wears  hanging  in  two  rolls  wrapped  around  with  red 
cloth.  His  hair  is  parted  in  the  middle  •  the  scalp- 
lock  is  a  portion  of  hair  the  size  of  a  dollar,  plaited  and 
tangled,  signifying:  'If  you  want  fight  you  can  have 
it.' 

"Quanah  is  how  camped  with  a  thousand  of  his  sub 
jects  at  the  foot  of  some  hills  near  Anadarko.  Their 
white  teepes,  and  the  inmates  dressed  in  their  bright 
blankets  and  feathers,  cattle  grazing,  children  playing, 


80  CYNTHIA   ANN   PARKER. 

lent  a  wierd  charm  to  the  lonely,  desolate  hills,  lately 
devastated  by  prairie  fire. 

"He  has  three  squaws,  his  favorite  being  the  daugh 
ter  of  Yellow  Bear,  who  met  his  death  by  asphyxiation 
at  Fort  Worth  in  December  last.  He  said  he  gave 
seventeen  horses  for  her.  His  daughter  Cynthia, 
named  for  her  grandmother,  Cynthia  Parker,  is  an  in 
mate  of  the  Indian  Agent's  house.  Quanah  was  at 
tired  in  a  full  suit  of  buck-skin  tunic,  leggins  and 
moccasins  elaborately  trimmed  in  beads — a  red  breech- 
cloth,  with  ornamental  ends  hanging  down.  A  very 
handsome  and  expensive  Mexican  blanket  was  thrown 
around  his  body;  in  his  ears  were  little  stuffed  birds. 
His  hair  done  with  the  feathers  of  bright  plumaged  birds. 
He  was  handsomer  by  far  than  any  I ngomar  the  writer 
has  ever  seen — but  there  was  no  squaw  fair  enough  to 
personate  his  Parthenia.  His  general  aspect,  manners, 
bearing,  education,  natural  intelligence,  show  plainly 
that  white  blood  trickles  through  his  veins.  When 
traveling  he  assumes  a  complete  civilian's  outfit — dude 
collar,  watch  and  chain — takes  out  his  ear-rings — he  of 
course  cannot  cut  off  his  long  hair,  saying  that  he 
could  no  longer  be  4big  chief.'  He  has  a  handsome 
carriage ;  drives  a  pair  of  matched  grays,  always 
traveling  with  one  of  his  squaws  (to  do  the  chores). 
Minna-a-ton-ccha  is  with  him  now.  She  knows  no 
English,  but  while  her  lord  is  conversing,  gazes,  dumb 
with  admiration,  at  'my  lord' — ready  to  obey  his 
slightest  wish  or  command." 


